Radiation-Chemical Oxidation of Peptides in the Solid State

Abstract
Gamma-ray irradiation of polypeptides as highly dispersed fluffs under oxygen leads to chemical degradation of the peptide bond with the remarkably high oxygen consumption of about one molecule per 2 ev of absorbed energy. A radical chain mechanism appears to be involved, and there is evidence that excited states of the polypeptide aggregate undergo chemical quenching by molecular oxygen.