Unfolding rates for the diffusion-collision model - art. no. 052902

In the diffusion-collision model, the unfolding rates are given by the like lihood of secondary structural cluster dissociation. In this work, we intro duce an unfolding rate calculation for proteins whose secondary structural elements are alpha helices, modeled from thermal escape over a barrier that arises from the free energy in buried hydrophobic residues. Our results ar e in good agreement with currently accepted values for the attempt rate.