New Mechanism for Facile Charge Transport in Polypeptides

An electronic hole migration accross a polypeptide chain is discussed with special reference to new ab initio computational results and to the experimental observations of Weinkauf et al. on the charge photoinjection into the polypeptide backbone. New mechanistic details for this efficient charge transport process are proposed. The process is viewed as a vibronically induced hole hopping between local aminoacid sites driven by large amplitude torsional motions of the floppy backbone.