Early events in ligand dissociation dynamics in myoglobin: An infrared study
Abstract
We used a femtosecond visible-infrared pump-probe experiment to follow ligand dissociation in carbonmonoxy-myoglobin. The CO mid-infrared absorption was found to be significantly delayed with respect to the photodissiciation. Assuming a gradual vibrational frequency change, the mid-infrared differential transmission can be interpreted in terms of a 1.2 ps ligand transfer time from the heme to the docking site.