Friday,
November 2, 2007 - 4:00 P.M., NSH 184
We have been applying a new vibrational technique, nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy or NRVS, to study the vibrational properties of heme derivatives. Heme is the prosthetic group in heme proteins, which are important in gas transport and sensing, electron transport and catalysis. NRVS is a synchrotron based technique requiring the intensity of a third generation source and is applicable to Mossbauer-active isotopes. In our experiments appropriate synchrotron-based NRVS measurement provides all vibrational modes that involve iron motion. Our application of NRVS to both powder and oriented single-crystal heme samples yields substantial insight into the vibrational dynamics of the systems. These are compared with those of other heme species with diatomic ligands.