Broadband Dielectric and THz Spectroscopy on Bio-Related Matter: Water, Amino Acids, Proteins, and Blood

TL;DR

This paper reviews broadband dielectric and THz spectroscopy techniques for studying biological matter, including water, proteins, blood, and amino acids, highlighting their ability to reveal various dynamic processes.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of how broadband dielectric and THz spectroscopy can interpret biological matter dynamics, with detailed experimental examples and analysis.

Findings

Dielectric spectra of water extend into the GHz region.

Spectroscopy reveals dynamic processes in proteins and amino acids.

Blood's dielectric properties relate to its biological function.

Abstract

In the present work, we examine the relevance and proper interpretation of broadband-dielectric and THz-spectroscopy data for the investigation of various types of biological matter. We provide an overview of the rich variety of different dynamic processes that can be detected by these experimental methods. Several experimental examples are discussed in detail, helping to understand the information that can be drawn from such studies. This includes dielectric spectra, extending well into the GHz region, for pure water, which can be considered as a simple but highly important biological molecule. We also discuss results for a prototypical aqueous solution of a protein, belonging to one of the most important classes of biological macromolecules. Moreover, we examine broadband dielectric spectra on blood as an example of functional biological matter in organisms. To demonstrate the relevance of THz spectroscopy for the investigation of biological molecules, we finally treat such experiments applied to different amino acids.