Hannover 2016 – wissenschaftliches Programm

Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Aktualisierungen | Downloads | Hilfe

MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik

MO 19: Posters 4: Novelties in Molecular Physics: Femtosecond Spectroscopy, Molecular Clusters, Cold Molecules and Helium Droplets

MO 19.26: Poster

Donnerstag, 3. März 2016, 16:30–19:00, Empore Lichthof

Infrared spectroscopy of trimethylamine N-oxide in helium droplets — •Raffael Schwan, Matin Kaufmann, Daniel Leicht, Gerhard Schwaab, and Martina Havenith — Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

Helium nanodroplet spectroscopy is a well-established experimental technique to investigate reactive species like radicals or ions as well as weakly bound aggregates. Due to the ambient temperature of 0.37 K of the helium droplets only the ro-vibrational ground state of the investigated species is populated, which simplifies the observed infrared spectrum. Since helium droplets are superfluid, embedded molecules can still rotate freely.

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is a naturally occuring osmolyte and plays an important role in the stabilization of proteins. Recent results using THz spectroscopy show the formation of TMAO-water aggregates involving 3-4 water molecules which are bound strongly to TMAO via hydrogen bonding [1].

First infrared spectra of the isolated TMAO molecule in helium droplets were obtained. For a distinct assignment of the spectral features mass-selective measurements were used. Future measurements aim to observe the stepwise formation of TMAO-water aggregates in helium droplets by characterizing the aggregates based on their infrared spectra and corresponding ab initio calculations.

[1] Knake, L., Schwaab, G., Kartaschew, K., Havenith, M. (2015). The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 119(43), 13842-13851.