Heat capacity of solid-state biopolymers by thermal analysis

Heat capacities in the solid state of four globular proteins (bovine beta-l actoglobulin, chicken lysozyme, ovalbumine, and horse myoglobin) and of the poly(amino acid) poly(L-tryptophan) have been determined using the Advance d THermal Analysis System (ATHAS). The experimental measurements were perfo rmed with adiabatic and differential scanning calorimetry over wide tempera ture ranges. The heat capacities were linked to an approximate vibrational spectrum by making use of known group vibrations and of a set of parameters , Theta(1) and Theta(3), of the Tarasov function for the skeletal vibration s. Good agreement was found between experiments and calculations with root mean square errors mostly within +/-3%. The experimental data were analyzed also with an empirical addition scheme using the known data for poly(amino acid)s measured earlier. Based on this study, vibrational heat capacities can now be predicted for all proteins with an accuracy comparable to common experiments. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.