Adrian H. Thomas

This is the second of three volumes of Methods in Molecular Biology that deal with Physical Methods of Analysis. The first of these, Spectroscopic Methods and Analyses dealt with NMR spec­ troscopy, mass spectrometry, and metalloprotein techniques, and the third will cover X-ray crystallographic methods. As with the first volume. Microscopy, Optical Spectroscopy, and Macroscopic Techniques is intended to provide a basic understand­ ing for the biochemist or biologist who needs to collaborate with spe­ cialists in applying the techniques of modern physical chemistry to biological macromolecules. The methods treated in this book fall into four groups. Part One covers microscopy, which aims to visualize individual molecules or complexes of several molecules. Electron microscopy is the more familiar of these, while scanning tunneling microscopy is a new and rapidly developing tool. Methods for determining the shapes and sizes of molecules in solution are described in Part Two, which includes chapters on X-ray and neutron scattering, light scattering, and ult- centrifugation. Calorimetry, described in Part Three, provides the means to monitor processes involving thermodynamic changes, whether these are intramolecular, such as conformational transition, or the interactions between solutes or between a solute and its sol­ vent. Part Four is concerned with optical and infrared spectroscopy and describes applications ranging from the measurement of protein concentration by UV absorbance to the analysis of secondary struc­ ture using circular dichroism and Fourier-transform infrared spec­ troscopy.

This is the second of three volumes of Methods in Molecular Biology that deal with Physical Methods of Analysis. The first of these, Spectroscopic Methods and Analyses dealt with NMR spec­ troscopy, mass spectrometry, and metalloprotein techniques, and the third will cover X-ray crystallographic methods. As with the first volume. Microscopy, Optical Spectroscopy, and Macroscopic Techniques is intended to provide a basic understand­ ing for the biochemist or biologist who needs to collaborate with spe­ cialists in applying the techniques of modern physical chemistry to biological macromolecules. The methods treated in this book fall into four groups. Part One covers microscopy, which aims to visualize individual molecules or complexes of several molecules. Electron microscopy is the more familiar of these, while scanning tunneling microscopy is a new and rapidly developing tool. Methods for determining the shapes and sizes of molecules in solution are described in Part Two, which includes chapters on X-ray and neutron scattering, light scattering, and ult- centrifugation. Calorimetry, described in Part Three, provides the means to monitor processes involving thermodynamic changes, whether these are intramolecular, such as conformational transition, or the interactions between solutes or between a solute and its sol­ vent. Part Four is concerned with optical and infrared spectroscopy and describes applications ranging from the measurement of protein concentration by UV absorbance to the analysis of secondary struc­ ture using circular dichroism and Fourier-transform infrared spec­ troscopy.

The three volumes in Methods in Molecular Biology covering Physical Methods of Analysis (vol. 1, Spectroscopic Methods and Analyses: NMR, Mass Spectrometry, and Metalloprotein Techniques; vol. 2, Optical Spectroscopy and Macroscopic Techniques; vol. 3, Cryst- lographic Methods and Techniques) differ from others in this series in several ways. Each volume covers a group of techniques for the char- terization of biological molecules and their interactions that involve the application of modern techniques of physical chemistry. These techniques by and large do not lend themselves to the "hands-on" approach and cannot usually be carried out by the molecular biologist alone, but most often require collaboration with a specialist. The biologist or biochemist contemplating such a collaboration may feel somewhat at a distance from the experimental work and further isolated by the use of the jargons of analytical and physical chemistry. Physical methods have been used in molecular biology from the earliest days, from simple applications of optical spectroscopy to the complexity of X-ray crystallography, and the full range of these me- ods will be covered over the three volumes. The methods dealt with in this first volume have largely developed from beginnings in small molecule chemistry to the point where they play a valuable role in the characterization of biological macromolecules.