This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Program supports research on long-range electron transfer by Dr. Alvin D. Joran of the Chemistry Department, New York University, and collaborators Drs. Joseph Malinsky and Yuri Magarshak in biophysics at Mount Sinai Medical School. The goal of the research is to determine whether and to what extent hydrogen bonds in peptides mediate electron transfer. Synthetic model compounds in which electron donor and acceptor sites are directly linked to a known inflexible alpha-helical peptide backbone will be prepared. The distance between the ruthenium complex donor and quinone acceptor will be systematically varied and the kinetics measured using time-resolved emission or transient absorption spectral techniques. In the accompanying theoretical portion of the project, graph and propagator formalism will be applied to coupling electron transfer pathways including any number of resides and side groups. The predictions will be tested against the experimental results and other available data on surface-labelled redox proteins. %%% Transfer of electrons over relatively long distances is an important process in biological systems as well as in molecular wires or non-linear optical devices. The contribution of hydrogen bonds to electron transfer is not well understood. Joran et al. have devised a rigid system in which to study the process and will use some novel calculational approaches to understand the effect.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Chemistry (CHE)
Application #
9123802
Program Officer
Margaret A. Cavanaugh
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
1992-08-01
Budget End
1993-10-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
1991
Total Cost
$60,100
Indirect Cost
Name
New York University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10012