American Chemical Society, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2(128), p. 382-383, 2005
DOI: 10.1021/ja053043u
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In this communication, we provide theoretical evidence that the folded structure of a simple peptide, alanine zwitterionic octapeptide, or A8, unstable in solution, becomes stable in a reverse micelle (RM) of appropriate size. Our molecular dynamics simulations were carried out for realistic models of sodium 2-ethylhexylsulfosuccinate RM in isooctane, simulated for an extended period of time. For the RM of the smaller size, we find that a helical structure is stable for the whole length of the simulation. On the contrary, the peptide very quickly takes an extended structure in larger micelles.