Editorial of the PCCP themed issue on “Physical Chemistry for Life Sciences”
This themed issue features high quality and original research on the theme of Physical Chemistry for Life Sciences.
Self-assembly and biological activities of ionic liquid crystals derived from aromatic amino acids
Does the mesomorphic behaviour of L-amino acid-based ILCs correlate with biological activity?
Structural analyses of isolated cyclic tetrapeptides with varying amino acid residues
Structural analyses of isolated cyclic tetrapeptides with varying amino acid residues were performed by applying combined IR/UV spectroscopy in the molecular beam and DFT calculations. The intrinsic structural properties especially with regard to the influence of different amino acid residues are fundamental for optimizing their binding ability.
Identification of the response of protein N–H vibrations in vibrational sum-frequency generation spectroscopy of aqueous protein films
We study the response of protein N–H vibrations in aqueous hydrophobin films using vibrational sum- frequency generation spectroscopy.
Switching from adduct formation to electron transfer in a light–oxygen–voltage domain containing the reactive cysteine
Electron transfer can be observed instead of the naturally occurring adduct formation in the LOV1 F41Y mutant from C. reinhardtii although the reactive cysteine is present.
Paper
Photodissociation spectroscopy of protonated leucine enkephalin
The protonated pentapeptide leucine enkephaline (YGGFL) fragments upon absorption of multiple UV photons by the tyrosine chromophore, providing complete sequence coverage.
Effect of adsorption kinetics on dissociation of DNA-nucleobases on gold nanoparticles under pulsed laser illumination
The kinetics of adsorption and photofragmentation of DNA nucleobase analogues on gold nanoparticles is evaluated towards an improvement of cancer photothermal therapy.
A conformational study of protonated noradrenaline by UV–UV and IR dip double resonance laser spectroscopy combined with an electrospray and a cold ion trap method
In protonated noradrenaline, 3 folded and 2 extended conformers were identified under the ultra-cold condition.
Paper
Solvent effects on ligand binding to a serine protease
ITC experiments and MD simulations reveal the mechanism behind enthalpy/entropy compensation upon trypsin-benzamidine binding at different solvation conditions.
Conformation of protonated glutamic acid at room and cryogenic temperatures
Linear infrared spectroscopy of protonated glutamic acid in a cryogenic ion trap allows for the clear-cut and quantitative identification of the two conformers of this fundamental biomolecule.
Conformational dynamics and self-association of intrinsically disordered Huntingtin exon 1 in cells
In-cell temperature jump experiments induce monomer collapse, misfolding and self-association of the Huntingtin exon 1 protein.
Shape and crystallographic orientation of nanodiamonds for quantum sensing
Fluorescent nanodiamonds are revealed to have flake-like geometries and a preferred orientation in (110) direction. The consequences for their magnetic sensing purposes and performance in experiments for physics and biology are discussed in this paper.
Paper
Correcting the record: the dimers and trimers of trans-N-methylacetamide
Raman jet spectroscopy reveals three N-methylacetamide molecules organizing into a ring structure, previously overlooked in computations.
About this collection
This is the official themed issue of the international Bunsentagung 2017 meeting organised by the Deutsche Bunsen-Gesellschaft (DBG) in Kaiserslautern, Germany on 25th to 27th May. The issue features high quality and original research on the theme of "Physical Chemistry for Life Sciences". The issue is guest-edited by Markus Gerhards (Technische Universitat Kaiserslautern).