This award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities Program (CRIF) will assist the Department of Chemistry at North Carolina State University to acquire a nanosecond time resolution, step-scan Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer bench with FTIR microscope and attenuated total reflection (ATR) attachment. Step-scan FTIR spectroscopy will be used to observe enzyme intermediates in novel dehalogenating enzymes and structural dynamics that accompany electron transfer in iron-sulfur dendrimers, to determine time scales for substrate interactions with enzyme binding sites and for conformation changes in the flexible framework of halozeotype micropores. FTIR in ATR mode will be used to measure the vibrational spectrum of opaque crystals and polymers. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has become a very powerful tool in recent years. Improvements in the stability and reproducibility of interferometers have resulted in significantly improved sensitivity in FTIR spectrometers. New FTIR sample geometries, including grazing incidence and attenuated total reflection spectroscopy, have increased the repertoire of samples to include opaque crystals, surfaces and polymers.
