Abstract
This study aimed to investigate how small organic molecules such as amino acids interact with and potentially alter the structure of liquid water. Using X-ray Raman Spectroscopy (XRS) at beamline BL12XU of SPring-8, we measured a series of aqueous proline solutions at varying concentrations, alongside pure water as a reference. The goal was to observe changes in the oxygen K-edge spectral features as a function of solute concentration, which could indicate perturbations in the hydrogen-bonding network of water. However, the spectra obtained did not reveal statistically significant differences between the samples due to limited signal-to-noise ratio and experimental sensitivity. This report documents the initial results from SPring-8 and outlines the scientific rationale for further investigation.
