Raman spectroscopy of membrane constituents and related molecules.

Abstract

The Raman effect was discovered a half century ago, but only in the last ten years has it been applied effectively to biological problems. The development of the continuous-wave laser has been responsible for most of these applications. For a time after this development it was fashionable to denote Raman spectra produced by laser excitation as “laser Raman spectra”. Because it seems unlikely that Raman spectra will be excited by any other than laser sources in the future, in the present chapter the terms “Raman effect”, “Raman spectra”, and the like will not be modified by the prefix “laser”, and it will be understood that lasers are used as the source of excitation. The rapid growth of biological Raman spectroscopy that followed the development of the laser has resulted in a bibliography with few references prior to 1967.