SMALL-ANGLE NEUTRON SCATTERING AND BIOMOLECULES (original) (raw)

Soft materials, both polymeric and biologically relevant, are rich in hydrogen. By coincidence, neutrons have the unique capability of scattering differently from hydrogen (coherent scattering length of hydrogen, b H = -0.37 × 10 -12 cm) compared to its isotope deuterium (b D = 0.67 × 10 -12 cm). As a result of this marked difference in scattering power (contrast) between native hydrogenated materials and their counterparts synthesized from deuterated monomer units, neutron scattering techniques have proven to be powerful tools for the study of soft condensed matter systems. Here, we will discuss the small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) technique, which is presently playing a pivotal role in extracting unique structural information from intrinsically disordered systems.