Shape-Shifting Molecules: Photoisomerization Action Spectroscopy. This project aims to examine molecules that change shape in response to light in order to gain insight into the biological processes they control. Many biological systems, including the human visual apparatus and bacterial photosynthesis, depend on molecules that change shape in response to light. The project plans to probe shape-shifting molecules with laser light while they are propelled through gas by an electric field. Light-i ....Shape-Shifting Molecules: Photoisomerization Action Spectroscopy. This project aims to examine molecules that change shape in response to light in order to gain insight into the biological processes they control. Many biological systems, including the human visual apparatus and bacterial photosynthesis, depend on molecules that change shape in response to light. The project plans to probe shape-shifting molecules with laser light while they are propelled through gas by an electric field. Light-induced changes in molecular shape produce detectable variations in drift speed. The ensuing knowledge would help calibrate computational approaches for predicting molecular function. It would also establish foundations for understanding essential biological molecules, including retinals, carotenes and peptides, and for developing new light-activated molecular motors and switches.Read moreRead less
Signature of vibrational motions encoded into small polyatomic spectra. Using revolutionary state-of-the-art spectrometers, the project plans to search for signatures of large-amplitude vibrational motions that transform one chemical species to another. Bond-breaking chemical reactions necessarily involve highly vibrationally excited reactants and/or products that move the energy of the system away from equilibrium. It is now possible for direct measurements to be made of the changes that a mole ....Signature of vibrational motions encoded into small polyatomic spectra. Using revolutionary state-of-the-art spectrometers, the project plans to search for signatures of large-amplitude vibrational motions that transform one chemical species to another. Bond-breaking chemical reactions necessarily involve highly vibrationally excited reactants and/or products that move the energy of the system away from equilibrium. It is now possible for direct measurements to be made of the changes that a molecule undergoes as it transits across a chemical potential energy barrier. The project plans to examine the long-standing problem of vinylidene-acetylene isomerisation in order to verify the long-suspected existence of large amplitude vibrational motion in small molecules, which are thought to be the signatures of a particular class of chemical dynamics. These would provide a rational basis for future control of unimolecular chemical reactions.Read moreRead less
Ions in the Fire: Laser Spectroscopy of Cryogenically Cooled Molecular Ions. This project will combine sophisticated laser and mass spectrometric techniques to probe the structure and function of cryogenically cooled biological molecules that are the core operational units for vision, photosynthesis and protein labelling. Knowledge gained from the project will be used to calibrate modern computational approaches to describing and predicting molecular function. It is expected that the project wil ....Ions in the Fire: Laser Spectroscopy of Cryogenically Cooled Molecular Ions. This project will combine sophisticated laser and mass spectrometric techniques to probe the structure and function of cryogenically cooled biological molecules that are the core operational units for vision, photosynthesis and protein labelling. Knowledge gained from the project will be used to calibrate modern computational approaches to describing and predicting molecular function. It is expected that the project will provide foundations for understanding and optimising the biological systems upon which life depends, and for developing new light-activated molecular devices including molecular motors, switches and energy harvesting systems.Read moreRead less
Signature of vibrational motions encoded into small polyatomic spectra. Using revolutionary state-of-the-art spectrometers, the project plans to search for signatures of large-amplitude vibrational motions that transform one chemical species to another. Bond-breaking chemical reactions necessarily involve highly vibrationally excited reactants and/or products that move the energy of the system away from equilibrium. It is now possible for direct measurements to be made of the changes that a mole ....Signature of vibrational motions encoded into small polyatomic spectra. Using revolutionary state-of-the-art spectrometers, the project plans to search for signatures of large-amplitude vibrational motions that transform one chemical species to another. Bond-breaking chemical reactions necessarily involve highly vibrationally excited reactants and/or products that move the energy of the system away from equilibrium. It is now possible for direct measurements to be made of the changes that a molecule undergoes as it transits across a chemical potential energy barrier. The project plans to examine the long-standing problem of vinylidene-acetylene isomerisation in order to verify the long-suspected existence of large amplitude vibrational motion in small molecules, which are thought to be the signatures of a particular class of chemical dynamics. These would provide a rational basis for future control of unimolecular chemical reactions.Read moreRead less
Laser spectroscopy of functional molecules. Frontier techniques of molecular laser spectroscopy and mass spectrometry will be developed and deployed to investigate the structure and function of molecules that underpin biological processes, drugs, and single molecule devices, including molecular motors, molecular switches, and energy harvesting systems.
Getting the drift - new frontiers in ion spectroscopy. This project will develop and harness ultra-sensitive techniques to understand the action of photo-active molecules involved in human vision, molecular motors and molecular memory. The new techniques will also help explore and exploit the properties of carbon and silicon nanoparticles, and may assist detection of exotic molecules in space.