Light-induced giant dipoles in simple model compounds for photosynthesis

The primary steps in photosynthesis involve very rapid (sub-nanosecond) electron transfer between molecular entities that are rigidly embedded within a lipid membrane and separated from each other by well-defined distances on the order of 10 Å. In an attempt to simulate such systems we have studied...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1986-04, Vol.320 (6063), p.615-616
Main Authors: Warman, J.M, De Haas, M.P, Paddon-Row, M.N, Costaris, E, Hush, N.S, Oevering, H, Verhoeven, J.W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR
BIOLOGIE MOLECULAIRE
FOTOSINTESIS
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
LIGHT
LUMIERE
LUZ
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
multidisciplinary
PHOTOSYNTHESE
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:The primary steps in photosynthesis involve very rapid (sub-nanosecond) electron transfer between molecular entities that are rigidly embedded within a lipid membrane and separated from each other by well-defined distances on the order of 10 Å. In an attempt to simulate such systems we have studied photon-induced electron transfer within specially synthesized molecular assemblies in which a donor moiety is separated from an electron acceptor by a rigid, saturated hydrocarbon framework of variable length, from 5 to 13 Å. We find charge separation to occur on a sub-nanosecond timescale with close to unit quantum efficiency in all cases. The lifetimes of the resulting charge-transfer states, with dipole moments approaching 70 debye units, can extend to several hundred nanoseconds. Non-conjugated hydrocarbon bridges may be important in determining the rate and direction of electron transfer in photo-excited natural or artificial molecular systems.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/320615a0