Two applications of pressure tuning spectroscopy to processes in liquids

In this short review, we describe two problems involving pressure tuning sp ectroscopy. The first of these concerns reversible pressure induced changes in conformation of the protein lysozyme with consequent changes in its aff inity for N-acetyl-D glucosamine. The second problem involves the effect of solvent viscosity on the rate of isomerization of 4, N, N'-dimethylaminobe nzonitrile (DMABN) in a series of linear alcohols, isobutanol and glycerol. An important result of this study is that there can be apparent difference s in resistance to shear near a solute molecule for solvents with the same bulk viscosity but different geometries. This concept may be extended to ot her bulk properties like density, compressibility and dielectric constant. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.