Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.112, No.5, 1350-1357, 2008
Structure and dynamics of an extended conjugated NLO chromophore within an amphiphilic 4-helix bundle peptide by molecular dynamics simulation
Incorporation of extended conjugated chromophores into amphiphilic 4-helix bundle peptides has been shown experimentally to be an effective means to orient the chromphores vectorially in 2-D ensembles with high in-plane density. The designed microscopic hyperpolarizabilty of the chromophore is preserved in the macroscopic NLO response of the ensemble. We show via molecular dynamics simulation that the designed coiled-coil structure of the bundle controls the conformation and dynamics of the chromophore that are critical to optimizing its hyperpolarizability.