Conformational symmetry and vibrational dynamics of polymers

Polymers are an important class of materials, and their conformation dictates their dynamical, thermodynamical, and hydrodynamical behavior. Several spectroscopic and other techniques have been employed to characterize their conformation. However, little use has been made of group-theoretical techniques except in the classification of symmetry species. In the present review, an attempt has been made to correlate normal modes and their dispersion profiles with the conformation of the polymeric systems. This has been attempted in the case of 2-, 3-, 4-fold and α-helical polymers.

Normal mode analysis of γ form of oleic acid

Oleic acid is one of the major components of a variety of oils and its spectra are very complex due to the presence of a large number of conformational states (alpha, beta, gamma). In the present communication, an attempt has been made to unravel the complex spectra by calculating the normal modes and examining the spectral features such as line position, line width, band intensity, group frequency concept and spectral relationship between the finite and infinite systems.