The Keiderling Group | UIC
Biophysical Chemistry and Spectroscopy
"Applying spectroscopy and quantum chemistry for biomolecular structural insight"
The Keiderling Group
Motivation for spectroscopic studies of complex systems
Studies with polarized light
Molecular structure and dynamics are the basis for how the tangible world works around us, even though they operate on a scale we cannot sense directly and must be ultimately understood using the tools of quantum mechanics. This is true for chemistry in general as well as materials and biological molecules and systems. In the latter we need to understand complex molecules like proteins and nucleic acids and their roles in complex structures like cells and tissue. To get experimental data that relates to the quantum world we need molecular scale probes that can assess energies and structures on the same level by sampling electronic and vibrational dynamics. Probing large and small molecules in all media through their interactions with light provides us with spectral properties that are directly dependent on structure and dynamics as can be understood with quantum chemical models.
Former group members at a Party before the Spring 2016 Symposium honoring their work
This rationale underlies our research activities applying spectroscopy, vibrational and electronic, and their quantum simulations to better understand questions of biomolecular structure and dynamics. Over the past decades this effort has involved many students and postdoctoral fellows, as well as a number of collaborators, who have come to UIC from around the world to work on these research projects. Their contributions are explored in the linked pages on this site. Along the way we have explored other avenues in alternative questions in chemical physics and development of analytical methods using these spectroscopic tools, but our current interests focus on biomolecular applications.