Laser Spectroscopic Studies of Non-Covalent Solute-Solvent Interactions Involving Non-Volatile Biomolecules in the Gas Phase

溶质-溶剂相互作用在决定许多生物分子在溶液中是否表现出生物活性方面起着关键作用。利用我们的新型液体微喷射注射技术，我们将通过快速激光从液体喷射表面解吸产生微溶剂化的气相生物分子(这里的微溶剂化指的是附着在溶质上的多达10个溶剂分子)。解吸后，激光光谱学将被用来直接表征非挥发性生物分子溶质-溶剂形貌。该项目将创造激光科学在研究生物物理和生化过程方面的新应用，这些过程仍然很难，如果不是不可能的话，使用传统技术进行探索。

Solute-solvent interactions play a critical role in determining whether or not many biomolecules display biological activity in solution. Making use of our novel liquid microjet injection technology, we will generate micro-solvated gas phase biomolecules by rapid laser desorption from the surface of a liquid jet (here, micro-solvation describes up to ~10 solvent molecules attached to a solute). Following desorption, laser spectroscopy will be used to directly characterise the non-volatile biomolecular solute-solvent topography. This project will create a new application of laser science to study biophysical and biochemical processes that remain difficult, if not impossible, to explore using traditional techniques.