EPR Research Group

Our group of chemists, physicists, and technical staff works on understanding and controlling structure formation on length scales between 1 and 100 nanometers. The principal tool is electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR or ESR) spectroscopy with an emphasis on distance measurements in the nanometer range between spin probes by advanced pulsed techniques. Measurements between a spin probe and nuclei in the vicinity by electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) or electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) techniques in the subnanometer range complement this information. As an auxiliary technique, we use high-resolution and solid-state NMR.We are currently active in three areas:

• development of EPR methods for structure determination on nanometer length scales and for the characterization of structural changes
• structure determination of biomacromolecules and their complexes, with an emphasis on membrane proteins and protein-protein complexes
• interface phenomena in inorganic/organic hybrid materials, such as polymer-clay nanocomposites

For a representative list of current research projects, see our research page.