Development of Nonadiabatic Methods for Model Electron Processes in Biomolecules

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A persuasive argument can be made that electron transfer reactions within and between proteins are the most important on our planet. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration is at the heart of life processes; this cycle is a result of carefully carefully controlled electron transfer within proteins. The importance of electron transfer was marked in 1992 by the award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.Up until now, electron transfer in proteins has been theoretically modelled using static estimations of protein structures. At 37 degrees Celsius, body temperature, proteins contain a great amount of thermal energy, and are therefore highly mobile. This mobility can dramatically alter the was in which electron transfer events occur. In order to fully understand what is going on, we must develop a new way to model ET a combination of classical physics and quantum mechanics.This work will be undertaken with collaboration with world leading experimentalists and theoreticians from the University of Essex, London Imperial, and the University of California, San Diego