Excited-State Reaction Dynamics of Bacteriochlorophyll Dimers

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Beck, Warren F.MCB-0091210Photosynthesis is responsible for most of the biological energy and oxygen on this planet. The first event in photosynthesis is primary charge separation at the reaction center chlorophyll pair. This research program will employ femtosecond coherent Raman spectroscopy to study the excited-state vibrational motions of bacteriochlorophyll dimers. The experimental focus is on the pair of bacteriochlorophylls in the B820 subunit of the purple bacterial light-harvesting protein LH1. B820 shares many of the structural features of the primary electron donor P of the purple bacterial reaction center. The research plan is designed to test the hypothesis that bacteriochlorophyll dimers undergo a nearly barrierless adiabatic surface crossing to a charge-transfer state following excitation of the lower exciton state. The main idea is that certain normal modes of vibration of the bacteriochlorophyll monomer and possibly collective modes of the bacteriochlorophyll dimer serve to mix electronic charge-transfer states with the neutral dimer exciton states. Femtosecond coherent Raman spectroscopy will be conducted with impulsive pump-probe and transient grating methods to detect the vibrational modes that mix the neutral and charge-transfer excited states of the bacteriochlorophyll dimer. The Raman spectra that are obtained with the B820 system will be compared with those that are observed in B777, the monomeric species that is prepared by splitting B820 into single bacteriochlorophyll-polypeptide complexes. In addition, synthetic alpha and beta polypeptides will be used to prepare pure systems containing alpha, beta and beta2 hosts for bacteriochlorophyll dimers. The research program will address how photosynthesis involves paired chlorophyll structures. In broader terms the work will address the role of vibrational coherence in fast chemical reactions in proteins.