birefringence

[Sean Buchanan Bioc]

Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.proteins
Subject: birefringence
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Distribution: world
Organization: U. of Cambridge, England
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Can anyone advise me how to visualise birefringence of a peptide in 
solution drawn up into a capillary tube. The peptide polymerises and I am 
told that if it has birefringence when drawn into a capillary it is 
possible to obtain useful x-ray data. The problem is that I don't know 
what I'm looking for or how to look for it!