Title: conformational transition
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - conformational transition
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.12752
Status: current

Definition
Transition between two conformational states.

Notes
1) Conformational melting is a type of conformational transition.
2) Conformational transitions are relevant in biopolymers, for example, nucleic acids and proteins or complex systems like lipid membranes, where a number of neighbouring local minima in the profile of the Gibbs energy are possible. A conformational transition can result in important biological action.

Related Term
- Conformational melting: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/12751

Source
- PAC, 2013, 85, 1017. 'Glossary of terms relating to thermal and thermomechanical properties of polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2013)' on page 1023 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-12-03-02)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12752/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12752/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12752/xml

Citation: Citation: 'conformational transition' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.12752
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Accessed: 2026-07-13T10:26:15+00:00