Mobility in amorphous solid sugars and proteins influences the rates of chemical reactions and physical processes; we have studied the relation between mobility, structure, and rate in amorphous sugar and protein films. Phosphorescence emission and intensity decay from erythrosin B were used to monitor the temperature dependence of mobility in glucose/glycerol films. Glycerol plasticized at both low (mole ratio 1/10 glycerol/glucose) and high (mole ratio 1/2) glycerol content. The IR hydrogen bond bandwidth increased with increasing glycerol, suggesting that the strength of the bond became more widely distributed with added plasticizer. An increase with temperature in the hydrogen bond peak frequency indicated a decrease in the number of hydrogen bonds at higher temperatures. AFM images reveal no evidence for phase separation in the microstructure of films. We have also prepared thin films from zein dissolved in 70% ethanol/water by spreading and drying concentrated protein solutions on quartz slides; films contained 25 % (w/w) glycerol and different contents of the antioxidants propyl gallate and octyl gallate. The oxygen diffusion and mobility of these films were measured using phosphorescence from dispersed erythrosin B. Although both antioxidants increased the mobility of the zein matrix to about the same extent, octyl gallate, but not propyl gallate, dramatically increased the permeability of oxygen. AFM imaging indicated that propyl gallate induced aggregation of zein complexes, which could lead to more condensed film. We used a fluorescein model for photobleaching to test the performance of these antioxidants in the zein films. In this model fluorescein was used to generate singlet oxygen, which then attacks the probe to destroy fluorescence, while antioxidant clears the singlet oxygen to protect fluorescein from being destructed. Results indicate that propyl gallate provided better protection against photobleaching than octyl gallate at low concentrations.