Protocol for the infrared assignment of conformation sensitive protein bands

Infrared spectroscopy is being increasingly used to determine the secondary structure (conformation) of proteins. Therefore it is of critical importance to correctly assign the conformation sensitive bands of proteins. Unfortunately, protein assignments are often based on a `hit or miss' proposition without sufficient experimental verification. The following paper outlines a protocol for assigning the conformation sensitive bands of proteins based on an easy, fast experimental procedure which exploits known conformational effects of different solvents upon the protein secondary structure.