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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Spin-dependent absorption of water molecules
1Institute of Protein Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia. spot@vega.protres.ru
Abstract:
The effects of spin state of water molecules on its absorption on lyophilized DNA, lysozyme and some inorganic sorbents were studied. It was shown that the absorption rates of ortho and para water from vapor differ noticeably. The para isomer binding with preparations is distinctly faster than that of the ortho isomer in all cases. Clear-cut distinction in the sorption kinetics is determined by the difference in quantum statistics for spin isomers, which in its turn can give rise to remarkable differences in physico-chemical properties of ortho and para water. This finding opens a wide field of activity in studying fundamental and applied problems relating to the role of the spin state of water molecules in physics, chemistry, biology and medicine.
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