NEW CONFORMATIONAL SEARCH METHOD BASED ON LOCAL TORSIONAL DEFORMATIONS FOR CYCLIC MOLECULES, LOOPS IN PROTEINS, AND DENSE POLYMER SYSTEMS

We propose a conformational search method, based on local torsional de formations (LTD) for locating the low energy structures of cyclic pept ides, loops in proteins or dense polymer systems. LTD is applied preli minarily to cycloundecane modeled by the MM2 force field, and is found to be more efficient than other techniques. (C) 1996 American Institu te of Physics.