Dynamics of protein-water systems revealed by Rayleigh scattering of Mössbauer radiation (RSMR)

A critical review of recent studies of protein dynamics by the RSMR technique is given. The main approximations in quantitative analyses of RSMR data are discussed and conclusions about dynamical properties of protein and interprotein water, deduced from experiments, are described.

Mössbauer investigations on glass-forming organic liquids

Glycerol forms a molecular glass near 180K. Fe2+ dissolved in glycerol allows the study of the dynamics of the system by Mossbauer spectroscopy. Recently it has been shown that the Mossbauer spectra can be understood in a way consistent with the results of dielectric and ultrasonic viscoelastic relaxation measurements. A jump diffusion model of Sinqwi and Sjolander with a jump rate distribution according to Davidson and Cole allowed us to fit the Mossbauer spectra of Fe in glycerol. First attempts to compare mode coupling theory with Mossbauer spectra are reported.

Structural fluctuations in glass-forming liquids: Mössbauer spectroscopy on iron in glycerol.

M\"ossbauer absorption spectra of $^{57}\mathrm{Fe}^{2+}$ dissolved in a glycerol-water mixture have been measured over a wide temperature range (80--275 K). In the supercooled liquid state the shapes of the spectra depend strongly on temperature. The M\"ossbauer spectra can be fit with jump diffusion with a Cole-Davidson distribution of fluctuation times. The results are in agreement with those obtained from dielectric and ultrasonic volume relaxations, proving that the \ensuremath{\alpha} relaxation of viscous liquids is responsible for the line broadening of the spectra. From the temperature dependence of the integrated area of the M\"ossbauer spectrum a second dynamic process is inferre…

Poster contributions

Temperature dependence of the dynamics of ultrafine particles in a polymeric network

Simple model systems with pronounced dynamical features will help to get a deeper insight into the complicated dynamics of large molecular networks. We investigated the bounded diffusion of ultrafine Fe(OH)3 particles (∼30 A in diameter) in the three-dimensional network of the cation exchanger Dowex 50 W which was solvated with a water solution of sucrose (60 wt%). Mossbauer spectra were recorded in the temperature range from 80 K to 305 K. At temperatures above 250 K broad diffusional lines of different widths appear in the spectrum proving the bounded nature of the diffusion. The line widths strongly increase with temperature to values of several hundred mm/s. Around 300 K a large portion…

X-ray structure determination of a metastable state of carbonmonoxy myoglobin after photodissociation.

The x-ray structure of carbon monoxide (CO)-ligated myoglobin illuminated during data collection by a laser diode at the wavelength lambda = 690 nm has been determined to a resolution of 1.7 A at T = 36 K. For comparison, we also measured data sets of deoxymyoglobin and CO-ligated myoglobin. In the photon-induced structure the electron density associated with the CO ligand can be described by a tube extending from the iron into the heme pocket over more than 4 A. This density can be interpreted by two discrete positions of the CO molecule. One is close to the heme iron and can be identified to be bound CO. In the second, the CO is dissociated from the heme iron and lies on top of pyrrole ri…

Rayleigh scattering of Mössbauer radiation on a myoglobin single crystal

The RSMR technique was used to determine the fraction of radiation which is scattered elastically and inelastically, respectively, into Bragg reflections of a metmyoglobin single crystal. From this measurement 〈x2 1c〉=0.027±0.008 A2 has been determined which is due to long range correlated motions in analogy to acoustic and optic modes in solids.