Changes of Raman scattering in the CH-stretching region during thermally induced unfolding of ribonuclease

Thermally induced unfolding of ribonuclease at low pH produces a large increase of Raman scattering intensity at ∼ 2930cm−1 (CH3-stretching region). Comparisons of the CH3-stretching spectra of various model compounds in the presence or absence of H2O (2H2O), indicate that the changes observed with ribonuclease arise from the insertion of previously buried, aliphatic amino acid residues into water.