The Universities of Paderborn (Departments of Chemistry and Physics), Hamburg (Department of Physics) and Dortmund (Department of Chemistry) have established together with the CFEL (Center for Free-Electron Laser Science) the interdisciplinary research unit “Dynamics of Electron Transfer Processes within Transition Metal Sites in Biological and Bioinorganic Systems” (FOR 1405) funded by the German Research Society Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

Intention

The catalytical activity of copper containing enzymes is a prominent example which is based on this principle of charge transfer. In addition, electron transfer reactions proceeding at metal-binding sites of proteins associated with neurodegenerative disorders, are potentially affecting the pathological misfolding process. The first of the above aspects appears to be of considerable interest in view of the optimization of industrial catalysts for organic oxygenation reactions, the second one in view of solutions towards preventing and/or curing neurodegenerative diseases within the field of biomedical research. Within the scope of this Research Unit, we intend to make use of the optically excited charge transfer in such systems and related synthetic models in order to gain insights into the chronologies of the processes induced. Fascinated by a plethora of diverse reactions controlled by copper in biology, the chemically oriented applicants within the Research Unit are engaged in the biomimetic chemistry of copper since many years. The guiding concept behind this project has emerged by combining these interests with modern concepts of pump/probe spectroscopy based on tuneable optical and free electron lasers. Our scientific approach is focused on time-resolved investigations of suitable biological molecules or bio-inspirated systems derived thereof intheir excited states employing novel pump/probe techniques based on ultramodern pulsed photon sources (FLASH, PETRA III and European XFEL at DESY). This approach opens up novel insights into biological reaction mechanisms which cannot be obtained by other methods and is therefore suited to contribute to an efficient transfer of important biological principles into technical applications related to medicine, biology and chemistry.