Development of a circular dichroism measuring system with high sensitivity and high time-resolution and its application for creation of biofunctional materials

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K19102
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 35:Polymers, organic materials, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Wada Takehiko 東北大学, 多元物質科学研究所, 教授 (20220957)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 円二色性 / 時間分解 / 楕円偏光 / 高感度 / CDスペクトル / 二重らせんDNA / ポルフィリン誘導体 / インターカレーション

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The detection of the complex formation process between biomolecules have received much attention not only basic scientific interest but also the development of biofunctional materials. Direct observation of the dynamic behavior of the complex formation process is considered to be important for highly efficient and accurate molecular development. Conventionally, various time-resolved spectral measurements have been applied to direct observation of dynamic behavior, but circular dichroism (CD) spectral measurement can detect the dynamic behavior of structural changes with high sensitivity. How to improve the low S/N originated from small CD peak intensities drawbacks of the CD measurement system was pointed out as a serious problem to be a general and powerful measurements tools. In this study, we have proposed and demonstrated the novel paradigm utilizing the ellipticall polarized light as detection of the CD measurement system with high sensitivity and high time resolution.

Free Research Field

有機・生命物理化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究で開発に成功した楕円偏光を用いるS/N向上と時間分解能の向上を達成した円二色性(CD)スペクトル測定法は、タンパク質や核酸と小分子間の複合体形成過程の動的挙動を高感度でかつ高時間分解能で観測可能で、基礎科学への、そして新規生体機能材料開発などへの貢献が期待され、その学術的意義は大きく、今後社会実装が望まれている。