Contact person is Dr. Carsten Dosche

Single molecule spectroscopy has become a important tool in chemistry and biology since about 2000. Various methods of superresolution microscopy, for which the Nobel prize was awarded in 2014, make use of single molecule spectroscopy. In contrast to other spectroscopic techniques that probe an ensemble of molecules (i.e., molecules in slight different environments and states), single molecule spectroscopy obtains data from a single molecule for which the environment changes only slowly (as fast as the molecule can change location). In this way subpopulation of molecules in different states can be distinguished. Applications are in the area of distance mesurements in proteins, size determination of colloids (nanoparticles and micells) as well as kinetc studies of (photo)electrochemical reactions in ns to ms time domains.

The instrumentation required for single molecules spectroscopy also allows measurements of time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence anisotropy and spectroelectrochemistry. This will be used in ongoing projects for imaging of special distribution of electrochemically generated reagents.