Ultrafast studies of solution dynamics

摘要

This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Fast chemical dynamics generally must be initiated photochemically. This limits the applicability of modern laser methods for following the structural changes that occur during chemical and biological reactions to those systems that have an electronic chromophore that has a significant yield of photoproduct when excited. This project has developed a new and entirely general approach to ultrafast initiation of reactions in solution: laser-induced temperature jump (T-jump). The results open entire new fields of study of ultrafast molecular dynamics in solution. The authors have demonstrated the T-jump technique on time scales of 50 ps and longer, and have applied it to study of the fast events in protein folding. They find that a general lifetime of alpha-helix formation is ca 100 ns, and that tertiary folds (in apomyoglobin) form in ca 100 (mu)s.