The isomorphic dynamic properties of biomolecular matters and glass-forming materials

Abstract

Glass formation is commonly found in many different kinds of materials and systems. The conventional dynamic and thermodynamic properties considered are usually associated with the structural relaxation and the transport coefficient such as viscosity. Our studies of widely different classes of glass-forming materials over several decades have led to the discovery of processes faster than the structural relaxation are strongly connected to and inseparable from the structural relaxation in dynamic and thermodynamic properties. These faster processes include the caged molecular dynamics, and a special kind of secondary relaxation with the primitive relaxation of the Coupling Model as its precursor. Overwhelming evidences from experiments and simulations supporting this universal finding can be found in the review entitled “Universal Properties of Relaxation and Diffusion in Complex Materials: Originating from Fundamental Physics with Rich Applications“, published in Prog. Mater. Sci. 2023, 139, 101130. Consequently any theory of glass transition is neither complete nor fundamental if these important faster processes have not been considered. In this paper we examine the dynamics and thermodynamic properties of dry, hydrated, and solvated proteins and biomolecules to find the presence of the faster processes and verify their strong connections to the structural relaxation. Thus the dynamics and thermodynamics of the processes in the biomolecular systems considered are isomorphic to those in ordinary glass-forming material.