Dynamic Aspects of Conformation Changes in Biological Macromolecules: Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Société de Chimie Physique Orléans, 19–22 September 1972

On the day after the 1959 Cambridge Congress, during which the International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics was founded, a biophysics section was formed within the Society of Physical Chemistry (Societe de Chimie Physique). Since then, three of the Society's annual meetings (the 11th, 17th, and 23rd) were devoted exclusively to the physico-chemical study of biological systems. The first of these was held in June 1961 at a hotel in Col de Voza, at the foot of an alpine glacier above Chamonix. The second, in May 1967, took place in the more learned setting of the venerable rooms of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The third - the one dealt with in the present volume - was recently held at Orleans-La Source in the newly built lecture theatres of the young University, which is near the great Institutes of the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), on the Sologne plateau. These three stages are milestones of an evolution which characterises (at least schematically) the explosive evolution of biological physico-chemistry. The first colloquium, with the title 'Deoxyribonucleic Acid: Structure, Synthesis and Functions', actually marks the first contact of the physical chemist with one of the then most prestigious biological macromolecules, the structure of which had just been discovered, and in this way celebrated one of the first and most striking successes of molecular biology.

Table of Contents:
Quantum-Mechanical Studies on the Conformation of Biomolecules.- Analyse conformationnelle des biopolymères par les méthodes semi-empiriques.- l’État natif est-il l’état fondamental?.- Conformations and Interactions of Histones and Their Role in Chromosome Structure.- Conformational Equilibria and Stability of Oligopeptides.- Isotopic Hydrogen Exchange in Solutions of Biological Macromolecules.- Determination of the Relaxation Spectrum of Macromolecules in Solution by the Analysis of the Electric Birefringence.- Resolution of the Fluorescence Spectra of Proteins Using Decay Measurements.- Tertiary and Quaternary Structural States of Hemoglobin.- Proton and Carbon-13 Nuclear Magnetic Resonances in Hemes and Hemoproteins: New Aspects for the Investigation of the Molecular Conformations.- A High Resolution NMR Study of Hydrogen Bonded Protons in tRNA.- Cinétique des changements de conformation tertiaires de l’hémoglobine étudiée par photolyse-laser.- Transitions réversibles d’activité et de structure quaternaire de la L(+) lactate: cytochrome c oxydoréductase (cytochrome b2) de la levure Hansenula anomala.- On Allosteric Models.- Conformational Changes in Glycogen Phosphorylase b from Rabbit Skeletal Muscle. Equilibrium and Kinetic Studies.- Quelques problèmes de cinétique conformationnelle de systèmes coopératifs.- The Analysis of Chemical Relaxation Amplitudes and Some Applications to Reactions Involving Macromolecules.- Mécanismes enzymatiques de type flip-flop.- Structure tridimensionnelle des acides ribonucléiques de transfert.- The Rate of Carbon Monoxide Binding to Hemoglobin Kansas.- Interactions de la proflavine avec différents ADN et polynucléotides de synthèse.- Interactions des acides aminés aromatiques avec les acides nucléiques.-Energy Transfers Study in the DNA-Ethidium Bromide Complex by means of Anisotropy Decay.- Étude des interactions entre l’acide polyribo-uridylique ou l’acide polyribobromo-uridylique et des polycations.- Acide poly-uridylique à basse température.- Phénomènes d’hystérèse dans les polynucléotides.- Étude de la transconformation thermique du Na-DNA en solution par la spectrographie de bruit.- Recent Developments in the Consistent Force Field Calculations.- Étude cinétique des changements conformationnels de la glutamate déshydrogénase par substrats et effecteurs.- Mouvements moléculaires consécutifs à la fixation de métaux dans la ?-galactosidase.- Mouvements intramoléculaires dans la chymotrypsine.- The Diffusion of Phospholipids in Membranes.- Étude par marquage de spin de la diffusion latérale dans les membranes biologiques.- Angiotensine II et analogues: Études conformationnelles comparatives.- Caractérisation, isolement et purification de la protéine réceptrice de l’acétylcholine à partir de l’organe électrique du gymnote.