Dynamics of Light Harvesting and Trapping in Photosynthesis

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project, sponsored jointly by the Chemistry Division (Experimental Physical Chemistry) and the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (Biochemistry and Molecular Structure and Function), is devoted to understanding primary photochemical processes in photosynthesis. Professors Fleming and Mets (Univ. of Chicago) will perform genetic modification of purple bacteria and of higher plants, obtaining modified reaction centers which are suitable for ultrafast (femtosecond) laser spectroscopic studies. The electronic and vibrational dephasing times obtained from these measurements will be used with appropriate theory to build up a complete molecular description of the photosynthetic unit. %%% Understanding the chemical mechanisms by which plants convert sunlight into energy (photosynthesis) is a problem of outstanding technological importance as well as fundamental scientific interest. The very early steps in this process, in which light first strikes the plant and is somehow trapped, occur so fast that light itself has time to travel less than 0.00001 feet before the trapping event is over. Professors Fleming and Mets (University of Chicago) will genetically engineer plants with special pigments suitable for performing ultrafast spectroscopic measurements of the primary chemical reactions. This will permit a complete molecular description of the photosynthetic unit.