Hydrogen Bonds

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140715141755.htm
Author: American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Publication Date: July 15, 2014

Summary:
This article is about chemists at the University of Chicago being directly able to visualize the vibrations between hydrogen bonded molecules with a new infrared light source. This is the first time scientists have been able to observe this kind of bonding. Now they can compare different vibrations between different types of bonds. They describe these bonds as being intertwined, and not just a bond of two simple parts. In an experiment they were able to observe what happens when you pluck on the bonds of one molecule (or in this case both molecules). They used a peptide with a medium-strength hydrogen bond in their experiment; using three-pulse sequences of mid-infrared light. Also, they stress the importance of thinking of water as having structure and mechanical properties of its own. In the future they plan the visualize how water reacts with proteins and DNA molecules.


Relevance:
This article is relevant with our current unit of study because we are learning about different kinds of molecules and the bonds between them. This specific experiment shows how these molecules move in their bonds. In class we have talked about the polarity of water molecules and how the hydrogen bonds between them function and their structures, and this article gives us insight on how these bonds move/vibrate. These chemists also plan to observe the reaction between water and proteins, both of which we have learned about their functions and structure but haven't talked about together. They also plan to do the same with DNA which we are leading up to in class to learn about.