Distribution of conformational energy minima in model heteropolymers

As an approach to explain the distribution of conformational minima in medium-size polymers and oligopeptides, we derive the exact density of states of a rotational-isomeric model of a heteropolymer. The model considers a finite molecular chain with a variable number of torsions, each of which may give rise to a different number of rotamers and conformational energies. The density of states is computed from combinatorial generating functions and then compared with that of same qualitative features found in realistic conformational analyses.