Terahertz Absorption of Chemicals in Water: Ideal and Real Solutions and Mixtures

Complex biomolecules, such as proteins in liquids, show specific terahertz dynamics in reactions or in protein folding as measured by static or kinetic absorption. The complex nature of biomolecules requires investigating their frequency, space, and time characteristics via a multimodal approach that changes external parameters such as temperature, pressure, concentration, and solvents. Terahertz spectroscopy can add a new and deeper understanding to existing techniques in other spectral regions of the biological dynamics in the solvent of life, i.e. water. To understand more deeply complex liquids or macromolecules in water, it is essential to understand the building blocks of solutions, which may contain salts, or are components of larger molecules such as amino acids. Although this research mainly affects basic science, a few applications are in progress, some create interest in industry, and several pathways for new applications relevant to medical science are in view. In this article, we review THz spectroscopy of solutions and concentrate our description to liquids with small solutes such as salts and amino acids, and review the prerequisites for obtaining THz data from aqueous solutions.