# Monitoring the Molecular Conformation of Individual Amphotericin B Molecules in an Aggregated State by Raman Optical Activity

## TL;DR

This paper shows how Raman optical activity and electronic circular dichroism can reveal the structure of amphotericin B aggregates at different scales.

## Contribution

The study introduces the combined use of ROA and ECD to analyze the molecular and supramolecular structure of amphotericin B aggregates.

## Key findings

- ROA reveals the conformation of individual amphotericin B molecules in aggregates.
- ECD provides insights into the supramolecular arrangement of amphotericin B molecules.
- The combination of ROA and ECD is essential for studying chiral supramolecular systems.

## Abstract

The polyene antifungal amphotericin B (AmB) can form
giant helical
aggregates. We show that microscopic and mesoscopic structural features
of its aggregates can be revealed by Raman optical activity (ROA)
and electronic circular dichroism (ECD), respectively. The ROA method,
which senses molecular structure more locally, elucidates the conformation
of the polyene chain of individual AmB molecules in an aggregated
state. In turn, the ECD signal related to exciton coupling effects
provides details about the arrangement of AmB molecules in the supramolecular
structure. Thus, the use of both complementary methods will be crucial
in future structural studies of chiral supramolecular systems.