ABSTRACT
The far-infrared dielectric function of a wide range of organic molecules is dominated by vibrations involving a substantial fraction of the atoms forming the molecule and motion associated with intermolecular hydrogen bond vibrations. Due to their collective nature such modes are highly sensitive to the intra- and intermolecular structure and thus provide a unique fingerprint of the conformational state of the molecule and effects of its environment. We demonstrate the use of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) for recording the far-infrared (0.5-4.0 THz) dielectric function of the four nucleobases and corresponding nucleosides forming the building blocks of deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA). We observe numerous distinct spectral features with large differences between the molecules in both frequency-dependent absorption coefficient and index of refraction. Assisted by results from density-functional calculations we interpret the origin of the observed resonances as vibrations of hydrogen bonds between the molecules.
Subject(s)
Crystallography/methods , Microwaves , Nucleosides/chemistry , Nucleotides/chemistry , Spectrophotometry, Infrared/methods , Adenine/chemistry , Crystallography/instrumentation , Cytosine/chemistry , DNA/chemistry , Electromagnetic Phenomena/instrumentation , Electromagnetic Phenomena/methods , Guanine/chemistry , Hydrogen Bonding , Models, Molecular , Molecular Conformation , Optics and Photonics/instrumentation , Refractometry/instrumentation , Refractometry/methods , Spectrophotometry, Infrared/instrumentation , Spectrum Analysis/instrumentation , Spectrum Analysis/methods , Thymine/chemistry , VibrationABSTRACT
We present well-resolved absorption spectra of biological molecules in the far-IR (FIR) spectral region recorded by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). As an illustrative example we discuss the absorption spectra of benzoic acid, its monosubstitutes salicylic acid (2-hydroxy-benzoic acid), 3- and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, and aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) in the spectral region between 18 and 150 cm(-1). The spectra exhibit distinct features originating from low-frequency vibrational modes caused by intra- or intermolecular collective motion and lattice modes. Due to the collective origin of the observed modes the absorption spectra are highly sensitive to the overall structure and configuration of the molecules, as well as their environment. The THz-TDS procedure can provide a direct fingerprint of the molecular structure or conformational state of a compound.
