Molecular electro-optics electro-optic properties of macromolecules and colloids in solution : [proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute on Molecular Electro-optics, held July 14-24, 1980, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York

The Advanced Study Institute on Molecular Electro-Optics was held on the campus of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA, from July 14 through July 24, 1980. This Advanced Study Institute was attended by sixteen invited lecturers and by forty-eight other participants. The present volume contains the texts of all of the invited lectures presented at the Institute. Although these lectures were supplemented by many animated discussions and by numerous short contributed papers, it was not possible to include these in the present volume. Molecular electro-optics is a difficult subject for research because it incorporates areas of theoretical physics such as elec­ tromagnetic theory and hydrodynamics of rotational diffusion, ex­ perimental physics such as lasers, optics, electric pulsers, and data collection via analog to digital converters and signal aver­ agers, and physical chemistry of macromolecules and colloids in solution (colloid science, biophysical chemistry, double layer polarization). This volume includes chapters on all of these subjects as well as introductions to magnets-optics and to elec­ trophoretic light scattering. The Advanced Study Institute was sponsored mainly by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization whose financial support made this meeting possible. Additional financial aid was supplied by the National Institutes of Health of the USA through their Fogarty International Center and the National Institute for Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive Diseases. Industrial contri­ buters consisted of the General Electric Company, Cober Electronics, and Malvern Scientific Corporation. Front Matter....Pages i-viii A History of Molecular Electro-Optics....Pages 1-25 Introduction to Modern Electro-Optics....Pages 27-59 Small Molecules in Electric and Optical Fields....Pages 61-73 Rotational Diffusion Coefficients....Pages 75-103 The Rotational Diffusion Function in an Electric Field....Pages 105-117 Theory of the Kerr Constant....Pages 119-146 Electric Birefringence Dynamics....Pages 147-162 Kerr Effects of Flexible Macromolecules....Pages 163-179 Light Scattering in Electric Fields....Pages 181-212 Wavelength Dependent Aspects of Electric Birefringence and Dichroism....Pages 213-227 Polarized Fluorescence in an Electric Field....Pages 229-239 Interaction of Electric Fields with Membrane-Bound Polyionic Proteins....Pages 241-267 Threshold Effects in Field-Induced Conformation Changes and Binding of Ions — Including Peptides — To Polynucleotides....Pages 269-284 Polyelectrolytes: A Survey....Pages 285-307 Electro-Optical Instrumentation Systems with Their Data Acquisition and Treatment....Pages 309-339 The Electro-Optics of Proteins....Pages 341-362 Investigating Nucleic Acids, Nucleoproteins, Polynucleotides, and their Interactions with Small Ligands by Electro-Optical Methods....Pages 363-398 Electro-Optics of Viruses and Bacteriophage....Pages 399-415 Application of Electro-Optics to the Study of Colloids....Pages 417-434 Electro-Optical Properties of Liquid Crystals....Pages 435-471 An Introduction to Magnetic Birefringence of Large Molecules....Pages 473-483 Introduction to Laser Light Scattering Spectroscopy in Electrophoresis....Pages 485-504 Back Matter....Pages 505-520