Tilting after Dutch windmills: probably no long-lived Davydov solitons in proteins.

We present a summary of picosecond pump-probe and photon echo experiments in the mid-IR at 6 mum on the protein myoglobin. The intriguing temperature dependence of the amide I band in Mb is rather similar to the temperature dependence of the amide I band of acetanilide, the molecule that launched Al Scott down the road of looking for Davydov solitons in biology. Alas, after much effort, we believe the data show that there is no long-lived Davydov soliton, at least in myoglobin.