Investigations of Protein Induced Heme Distortion Using Raman and Vibrational Coherence Spectroscopy

This thesis focuses on studying the protein induced heme out-of-plane distortion and its impact on heme reactivity. Using optical absorption spectroscopy, resonance Raman spectroscopy, and femtosecond vibrational coherence spectroscopy (VCS), we studied low frequency spectral density changes upon equilibrium unfolding of ferric cytochrome c, the effect of heme out-of-plane deformation on its electron transfer rate in cytochrome c, ligand switching associated with the inactive form of cytochrome p450, and oxygen binding kinetics in H-NOX.