Temperature dependence of the ligand field strength in systems with modulated potential-energy surfaces. A suggestion for interpreting spectroscopic properties of metalloproteins

The structural and spectroscopic properties of physical systems having different potential-energy wells are strongly affected by temperature where energy barriers are comparable to the thermal energy. A theoretical analysis has been performed using an asymmetric double-well potential and, on the basis of the results obtained, an interpretation of the temperature-dependent properties of some real systems, such as the active sites in copper proteins, is proposed.