Mimicking Photosynthetic Electron Transfer

1990 ◽  
Vol 218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devens Gust ◽  
Thomas A. Moore ◽  
Ana L. Moore

AbstractThe photosynthetic reaction centers of plants and bacteria are photovoltaic devices on the molecular scale which convert light energy into chemical potential energy in the form of long-lived, energetic charge separated states. It is now possible to prepare synthetic multicomponent molecules which mimic important aspects of this process. For example, one of the keys to reaction center function is a multistep electron transfer strategy. In this paper, two general types of multistep electron transfer, sequential and parallel, are described and illustrated with several synthetic triad and pentad molecules.

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (05n06) ◽  
pp. 626-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Viet Thanh ◽  
Thorsten Könekamp ◽  
Daniela Hanke ◽  
Franziska Löwer ◽  
Tobias Borrmann ◽  
...  

Special pair chlorophylls arranged in a cofacial dimeric structure play an important role in the initial step of light induced electron transfer of photosynthetic reaction centers of bacteria and plants. For mimicking the natural photosynthetic reaction center we aimed on synthesis of an artificial special pair 13 constructed from two chlorin subunits 5a, b and a rigid biphenylene spacer moiety 11. Due to the reduced C2h symmetry of the chlorin units compared with so far used D4h porphyrins and due to the rigid spacer a cofacial dimer of defined symmetry and distance was obtained.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Song ◽  
Riley Sechrist ◽  
Hoang H. Nguyen ◽  
William Johnson ◽  
Darius Abramavicius ◽  
...  

AbstractPhotochemical reaction centers are the engines that drive photosynthesis. The reaction center from heliobacteria (HbRC) has been proposed to most closely resemble the common ancestor of photosynthetic reaction centers, motivating a detailed understanding of its structure-function relationship. The recent elucidation of the HbRC crystal structure motivates advanced spectroscopic studies of its excitonic structure and charge separation mechanism. We perform multispectral two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy of the HbRC and corresponding numerical simulations, resolving the electronic structure and testing and refining recent excitonic models. Through extensive examination of the kinetic data by lifetime density analysis and global target analysis, we reveal that charge separation proceeds via a single pathway in which the distinct A0 chlorophyll a pigment is the primary electron acceptor. In addition, we find strong delocalization of the charge separation intermediate. Our findings have general implications for the understanding of photosynthetic charge separation mechanisms, and how they might be tuned to achieve different functional goals.


BIOPHYSICS ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. M. Krasilnikov ◽  
P. A. Mamonov ◽  
P. P. Knox ◽  
A. B. Rubin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Song ◽  
Riley Sechrist ◽  
Hoang Huy Nguyen ◽  
William Johnson ◽  
Darius Abramavičius ◽  
...  

<p>Photochemical reaction centers are the engines that drive photosynthesis. The reaction center from heliobacteria (HbRC) has been proposed to most closely resemble the common ancestor of photosynthetic reaction centers, motivating a detailed understanding of its structure-function relationship. The recent elucidation of the HbRC crystal structure motivates advanced spectroscopic studies of its excitonic structure and charge separation mechanism. We perform multispectral two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy of the HbRC and corresponding numerical simulations, resolving the electronic structure and testing and refining recent excitonic models. Through extensive examination of the kinetic data by lifetime density analysis and global target analysis, we reveal that charge separation proceeds via a single pathway in which the distinct A<sub>0 </sub>chlorophyll <i>a</i> pigment is the primary electron acceptor. In addition, we find strong delocalization of the initial excited state and charge separation intermediate. Our findings have general implications for the understanding of photosynthetic charge separation mechanisms, and how they might be tuned to achieve different functional goals.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (41) ◽  
pp. 28388-28400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Nalepa ◽  
Marco Malferrari ◽  
Wolfgang Lubitz ◽  
Giovanni Venturoli ◽  
Klaus Möbius ◽  
...  

Pulsed EPR spectroscopies and isotope labeled water are applied to detect and quantify the local water in a bacterial reaction center embedded into a trehalose glass.


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