In a shaded courtyard room in the Mellon Institute sits a sprawling assemblage of stainless steel containers, electronics, and wires. The machinery vibrates, hisses, and sends a chill into the air. They are two Mössbauer spectrometers—uncommon research tools that Carnegie Mellon chemistry professor Eckard Münck uses to understand some of life’s most basic functions.
Professor Münck has become what MIT chemistry professor Stephen Lippard calls “the acknowledged worldwide leader” in Mössbauer spectroscopy because of his ability to interpret the complex information the technique produces. Münck is able to infer from and ultimately understand the geometric and electronic structures of the iron-containing proteins that are his specialty.
These days, the Münck lab is examining synthetic molecules, some of them created by Carnegie Mellon chemistry professor Terry Collins. The Mössbauer technique allows the team to focus on the “business center” of the molecules, usually an iron atom, to learn how chemical transformations are performed. Those results help scientists understand naturally occurring chemical functions—and also help with the design of new synthetic complexes with uses such as creating new drugs, combating river water pollution, and killing pathogens such as anthrax.
Münck’s 30 years of work with Mössbauer spectroscopy—all of it funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation—have been recognized by the American Chemical Society, which has presented Münck with its prestigious 2007 Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic Chemistry.
