Solution structure and dynamics of biomolecules from Raman optical activity

Raman optical activity (ROA) measures vibrational optical activity by means of a small difference in the intensity of Raman scattering from chiral mol ecules in right and left circularly polarized incident laser light. The ROA spectra of a wide range of biomolecules in aqueous solution can now be mea sured routinely. Because of its sensitivity to the chiral elements of biomo lecular structure, ROA provides new information about solution structure an d dynamics complementary to that supplied by conventional spectroscopic tec hniques. This article provides a brief introduction to the theory and pract ice of ROA spectroscopy followed by a review of recent ROA results on polyp eptides, proteins, carbohydrates, nucleic acids and viruses which illustrat e how new insight into current problems of structure, folding and function may be obtained from ROA studies. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.