Nitro-Phenylalanine: A Novel Sensor for Heat Transfer in Peptides

The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2011, 115, 2169-2175 published on 03.03.2011
JPCB
Femtosecond IR-pump-IR-probe experiments with independently tunable pulses are used to monitor the ultrafast response of selected IR absorption bands to vibrational excitation of other modes of Fmoc-nitrophenylalanine. The absorptions of both NO2-bands change rapidly within <2 ps upon excitation of other vibrational modes. The results point to considerable coupling between the monitored NO2 modes and the initially excited modes or low-frequency modes. The latter are populated by a rapid energy redistribution process. The strong IR absorption of the NO2 stretching bands and the intense coupling to other modes makes the nitro group of nitrophenylalanine a sensitive monitor for vibrational energy arriving at this amino acid.
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TU München