Circular dichroism is the property of chiral molecules to absorb the right and left components of circularly polarized light to a different extent. CD spectroscopy measures this differential absorbance.
Nearly all biological macromolecules are chiral and lend themselves to CD experiments. For example the secondary structure content of proteins can be analysed as alpha helices, beta strands and random coil have characteristic spectra. The temperature dependence of the CD signal gives information about protein stability and folding.
Our Jasco spectrometer gives publication quality scans down to 190 nm wavelength enabling quantitative secondary structure analysis. It is equipped with a thermostatted sample chamber for melting experiments.