| Original view | |
| Make the atoms transparent to reveal the skeleton of the molecule. | |
| Remove the sidechains to see the helical structure more clearly. | |
| Play a short movie to see the hydrogen bonds stabilizing the helix. In the movie, oxygen and nitrogen atoms involved in h-bonding pop out as red and blue spheres, respectively. | |
| Rebuild the molecule |
| Many helices are amphipathic. That is, they have hyrophobic sidechains down one side, and hydrophilic sidechains down the other. This enables one side of the helix to associate with an aqueous environment, while the other side seeks to "hide" from water or other polar molecules. |
| Show the hydrophobic side chains in green . | |
| Show the hydrophilic side chains in blue . | |
| Original view |
| To Beta-Sheet |