Objective Recent intensive research on the laser spectroscopy of neutral gas-phase biomolecules has yielded a detailed picture of their structures and conformational preferences away from the complications of the bulk environment. In contrast, work on ionic systems has been sparse despite the fact that many important molecular groups are charged under physiological conditions. To address this probelm, we have developed a custom-built laser spectrometer, which incorporates a distincitive electrospray ionisation (ESI) cluster ion source, dedicated to producing biological anions (ATP,oligonucleotides) and their microsolvated clusters for structural characterization. Many previous laser spectrometers with ESI sources have suffered from producing "hot" congested spectra as the ions were produced at ambient temperatures. This is a particularly serious limitation for spectroscopic studies of biomolecules, since these systems can possess high internal energies due tothe presence of numerous low frequency modes. Our spectrometer overcomes this problem by exploiting the newly developed physics technique of "buffer gas cooling" to produce cold ESI molecular ions. In this proposal, we now seek to exploit the new laser-spectrometer to perform detailed spectroscopic interrogations of ESI generated biomolecular anions and clusters. In addition to traditional ion-dissociation spectroscopies, we propose to develop two new laser spectroscopy techniques (Two-color tuneable IR spectroscopy and Dipole-bound excited state spectroscopy) to give the broadest possible structural characterizations of the systems of interest. Studies will focus on ATP/GTP-anions, olignonucleotides, and sulphated and carboxylated sugars. These methodologies will provide a general approach for performing temperature-controlled spectroscopic characterizations of isolated biological ions, with measurements on the corresponding micro-solvated clusters providing details of how the molecules are perturbed by solvent. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physicsnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsspectroscopy Keywords Biological Ions Gas-phase Ions Laser Spectroscopy Laser Spectroscopy Gas-phase Ions Biological Ions Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-SG-PE4 - ERC Starting Grant - Physical and Analytical Chemical sciences Call for proposal ERC-2007-StG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant Coordinator UNIVERSITY OF YORK Address Heslington YO10 5DD York north yorkshire United Kingdom See on map Region Yorkshire and the Humber North Yorkshire York Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Chris Barber (Mr.) Principal investigator Caroline Dessent (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window EU contribution € 1 250 000,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITY OF YORK United Kingdom EU contribution € 1 250 000,00 Address Heslington YO10 5DD York north yorkshire See on map Region Yorkshire and the Humber North Yorkshire York Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Chris Barber (Mr.) Principal investigator Caroline Dessent (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window
