Jet-FTIR spectroscopy combines the low temperatures of supersonic free jet expansions (jets) with the panoramic view of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. A recent comprehensive review can be found in ref. [1]. Jet-FTIR spectroscopy is particularly useful for the investigation of molecular clusters and their dynamics. Low temperatures are often required for cluster formation, the first step towards molecular sociology. Once bound in a cluster, the molecules exhibit a wide range of social behaviour (dynamics), for which FTIR spectroscopy provides a panoramic viewpoint. Among the forces which attract molecules to each other, hydrogen bonds are probably the most influential in biology. They affect the molecular X-H bonds in characteristic ways, which can now be monitored routinely by jet-FTIR spectroscopy, using the simple ragout-jet FTIR technique [2].
References
More ... (link to the Suhm group at Göttingen university)
Revised 2005-12-09 by Webmaster