Web Release Date: February 15,
Substrate-Assisted Laser-Initiated Ejection of Proteins Embedded in Water Films
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Department of Physics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, Department of Chemistry, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903
Received: August 9, 2002
Abstract:
Molecular dynamics simulations have been employed to investigate laser initiated liftoff of the protein enkephalin embedded in a H2O film adsorbed onto a gold substrate. The laser energy is deposited solely into the gold substrate at different heating rates. For fast heating rates on the picosecond time scale, the results show that large clusters of the H2O molecules are ejected from the film entraining the enkephalin molecule away from the metal surface. For heating on the nanosecond time scale, the H2O overlayer evaporates in the form of individual molecules and small clusters that are unable to entrain the enkephalin molecule.
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