Chemistry with physical methods

Molecules are not rigid entities. They are always in vibration. This is called oscillation. And that not only affects the molecule as a whole, but also its chemical bonds. Scientists can relatively easily measure the frequency with which the individual bonds vibrate. Jeannine used this knowledge for her master's thesis. With the help of infrared spectroscopy, Jeannine stimulated single bonds of a molecule. The infrared light used had exactly the same frequency as that of the bond. If she stimulated one bond, it affected the others within the same molecule, as well as the bonds between different molecules. What Jeannine found out is that in the supercritical phase, the mutual influence of the individual bonds of different molecules is weaker because the interactions between the molecules become weaker.

For her doctoral thesis at the Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Jeannine goes one step further with the help of multidimensional infrared spectroscopy. The advantage is that Jeannine can simultaneously make several bonds oscillate and even observe the flow of energy within the molecule. Her high-power laser fires off super-short flashes of light that last only a few femtoseconds. A femtosecond is the trillionth part of a second - so incredibly fast that even the fastest chemical reactions or spontaneous movements of the molecule are almost frozen like in a photographic snapshot.

Jeannine is doing real pioneering work. Research with multi-dimensional infrared spectroscopy, also abbreviated as MDIR, still counts as fundamental research. But the potential is huge. Environmental technology, pharmaceutical industry, material science and even medicine could benefit from her work in the future. Similar high-resolution imaging techniques like MRI already exist, but MDIR has a decisive advantage - only it shows superfast interactions at the molecular level in real time.