Nature of biological water: a femtosecond study.
The quasi-bound biological or structured water molecules in a protein play a key role in many biological processes. The dynamics of the biological water has been studied by femtosecond spectroscopy and large-scale computer simulations. Solvation dynamics of biological water displays an almost bulk-water like ultrafast component (approximately 1 ps) and a surprising slow component at the 100-1000 ps time scale. In this article, we discuss several examples of the ultraslow component, its possible origin and implications in biology. We show that the ultrafast (approximately 1 ps) component arises from an extended hydrogen bond network while the ultraslow component originates from binding of a water molecule to a biological macromolecule.
Physical Chemistry Department, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata, 700032, India. pckb@iacs.res.in
Kankan
K
Bhattacharyya
D001669:Biochemical Phenomena; D001671:Biochemistry; D003505:Cyclodextrins / Q000737:chemistry; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D013997:Time Factors; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
D003505:Cyclodextrins; D011506:Proteins; D014867:Water