Ring-Opening Polymerization in Carnosine under Pressure

Our high pressure Raman scattering experiments on carnosine, a dipeptide of l-histidine and β-alanine, show pressure induced ring-opening polymerization involving the imidazole ring. While the onset of polymeric transformation is found to be at ∼2.8 GPa, a substantial fraction of the monomeric solid becomes polymerized by 12 GPa. On release to ambient conditions, the observed Raman spectra do not contain any of the Raman modes of the ambient phase.