Controlling and Probing the Microscopic Structure and Dynamics of Liquids

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In this Faculty Early Career Development Award funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program in the Chemistry Division, John Fourkas of Boston College will use ultrafast nonlinear optical techniques to probe intermolecular interactions in pure liquids and solutions subjected to confinement in microporous glasses or maintained in a non-equilibrium state of sustained tension. Transient Grating Optical Kerr Effect studies will probe the reorientational diffusion rates in these systems, providing information on the local structure of the liquid. This structure will be sensitive to attractive forces such as hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic forces such as those caused by ionic solutes. These forces are involved in a wide variety of processes including protein folding and bubble coalescence. The educational component of this program involves designing an outreach program to provide science demonstrations at schools and seminars for grade school teachers, designing undergraduate chemistry experiments involving contemporary research problems, and developing courses in communications skills in the graduate curriculum. The local organization of molecules in liquids, water in particular, is responsible for many solution phase properties. Forces such as hydrogen bonding have a large impact on the way molecules behave when dissolved in water. Professor Fourkas will study the nature of these forces and the effects that dissolved molecules have on this local order. These studies will provide information which can be applied to areas such as understanding protein folding and the binding of molecules to enzymes.