LOCALIZED RAMAN TENSORS IN SOME BIOPOLYMERS

A general survey is given of the relations between the anisotropy of t he Raman scattering intensities of a crystal and the effective Raman t enser of the molecule corresponding to the molecular vibration in ques tion. Some of the Raman tensors determined by the use of these relatio ns are discussed. The Raman tenser assignable to the CH2 scissoring vi bration at 1400 cm(-1) is found to be not transferable between differe nt molecules in different crystals. However, the amide I Raman tenser of the peptide group is found to remain nearly unchanged on going from a dipeptide crystal to a synthetic polypeptide fiber. The usefulness of such knowledge in determining the orientation of a functional group in a biological system is suggested.