[Fluorescence monitoring of solid-phase peptide synthesis using a quartz reactor-cuvette]. / Fluorestsentnyi kontrol' tverdofaznogo sinteza peptidov s primeneniem kvartsevogo reaktora-kiuvety.

The quartz reactor-cuvette for fluorescent monitoring of the solid phase peptide synthesis consists of a 10 mm diameter quartz tube jacketed in a 14 x 14 mm orthogonal holder and equipped with chemically inert adapters. This allows to use the reactor with almost any standard fluorimeter. Details of the construction are presented. Fluorescence spectra of Fmoc-group, both in solution and on the solid support, are given; effects of concentration quenching of the fluorescence are studied.

Study of the "molten globule" intermediate state in protein folding by a hydrophobic fluorescent probe.

Binding of the hydrophobic fluorescent probe, 1-anilino-naphthalene-8-sulfonate (ANS), to synthetic polypeptides and proteins with a different structural organization has been studied. It has been shown that ANS has a much stronger affinity to the protein "molten globule" state, with a pronounced secondary structure and compactness, but without a tightly packed tertiary structure as compared with its affinity to the native and coil-like proteins, or to coil-like, alpha-helical, or beta-structural hydrophilic homopolypeptides. The possibility of using ANS for the study of equilibrium and kinetic molten globule intermediates is demonstrated, with carbonic anhydrase, beta-lactamase, and alpha-lactalbumin as examples.