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Updated: Dec 1, 2025

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters

Published on: January 9, 2014

Exploring the Molecular Conformation Space by Soft Molecule-Surface Collision.

Kelvin Anggara¹, Yuntao Zhu², Martina Delbianco²

¹Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstrasse 1, Stuttgart DE-70569, Germany.

Journal of the American Chemical Society

|November 10, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a new method to study molecule shapes by observing them after gentle collisions with a surface. This technique reveals the full range of conformations for flexible molecules like cellohexaose, offering insights into their physical properties.

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Area of Science:

Physical Chemistry
Biophysics
Materials Science

Background:

Biomolecules exist in multiple conformations, crucial for their function.
Understanding the conformational landscape requires characterizing ground and excited states.
Oligosaccharide flexibility has limited detailed conformational studies.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a novel technique for exploring the conformational landscape of molecules.
To enable single-molecule imaging of diverse molecular conformations.
To overcome limitations of ensemble-averaged methods for flexible biomolecules.

Main Methods:

Soft molecule-surface collisions (0.5-5.0 eV) to excite gas-phase conformers.
Adsorption of resulting conformations onto a surface for imaging.
Single-molecule level imaging of ground and excited states.

Main Results:

Successfully imaged diverse conformations of cellohexaose, a cellulose model.
Identified two extreme conformations: 'extended' and 'coiled' (preserved gas-phase).
Characterized cellohexaose as a rigid ribbon that gains flexibility upon twisting.

Conclusions:

The developed technique allows exploration of molecular conformation space.
Provides new insights into the physical properties of flexible molecules like oligosaccharides.
Applicable to any molecule amenable to electrospraying for conformational analysis.