Organic Chemistry

Biochemical functions of peptides and proteins are largely determined by their conformational behavior and flexibility. A notorious example is the prion, which adopts a natural but also an insoluble (poisonous) form. Latest experimental (vibrational circular dichroism, Raman optical activity) and theoretical (multi-scale quantum and classical simulations) enable one to better understand and study the flexibility of these molecules.

In the project interactions of model systems (e.g. parts of the prion molecule) with the solvent, metal ions and their flexibility will be studied by spectroscopic methods. Interpretation of the experiment is often dependent on the theoretical simulations; the concrete theoretical and experimental objectives will be thus set according to the interest of the student.