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The EAL-BLUF fragment from

Phototropin (phot) is a blue light sensor involved in the light responses of several species from green algae to higher plants. Phot consists of two photoreceptive domains (LOV1 and LOV2) and a Ser/Thr kinase domain. These domains are connected by a hinge and a linker domain. So far, studies on the photochemical reaction dynamics of phot have been limited to short fragments, and the reactions of intact phot have not been well elucidated. Here, the photoreactions of full-length phot and of several mutants from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Cr) were investigated by the transient grating and circular dichroism (CD) methods. Full-length Cr phot is in monomeric form in both dark and light states and shows conformational changes upon photoexcitation. When LOV1 is excited, the hinge helix unfolds with a time constant of 77 ms. Upon excitation of LOV2, the linker helix unfolds initially followed by a tertiary structural change of the kinase domain with a time constant of 91 ms. The quantum yield of conformational change after adduct formation of LOV2 is much smaller than that of LOV1, indicating that reactive and nonreactive forms exist. The conformational changes associated with the excitations of LOV1 and LOV2 occur independently and additively, even when they are excited simultaneously. Hence, the role of LOV1 is not to enhance the kinase activity in addition to LOV2 function; we suggest LOV1 has different functions such as regulation of intermolecular interactions.

The effect of pressure on the dissociation reaction of the TePixD decamer was investigated by high-pressure transient grating (TG). The TG signal intensity representing the dissociation reaction of the TePixD decamer significantly decreased by applying a relatively small pressure. On the other hand, the reaction rate increased with increasing pressure. The equilibrium between the pentamer and the decamer was investigated by high-pressure dynamic light scattering. The results indicated that the fraction of the decamer slightly increased in the high-pressure region. From these measurements, it was concluded that the pressure-dependent signal intensity originated from the decrease of the quantum yield of the dissociation reaction of the decamer, indicating that this reaction efficiency is very sensitive to pressure. Using densimetry at high pressures, the compressibility was found to be pressure dependent even in a relatively low pressure range. We attributed the origin of the pressure-sensitive reaction yield to the decrease of compressibility at high pressure. Because the compressibility is related to the volume fluctuation, this observation suggests that the driving force for this reaction is fluctuation of the protein. The relationship between the cavities at the interfaces of the monomer units and the reactivity is also discussed.

Excited state intramolecular proton transfer reactions (ESIPT) of 4'-N,N-diethylamino-3-hydroxyflavone (DEAHF) in ionic liquids have been studied by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence measurements at different excitation wavelengths. Steady-state measurements show the relative yield of the tautomeric form to the normal form of DEAHF decreases as excitation wavelength is increased from 380 to 450 nm. The decrease in yield is significant in ionic liquids that have cations with long alkyl chains. The extent of the decrease is correlated with the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chains. Time-resolved fluorescence measurements using optical Kerr gate spectroscopy show that ESIPT rate has a strong excitation wavelength dependence. There is a large difference between the spectra at a 200 ps delay from different excitation wavelengths in each ionic liquid. The difference is pronounced in ionic liquids having a long alkyl chain. The equilibrium constant in the electronic excited state obtained at a 200 ps delay and the average reaction rate are also correlated with the alkyl chain length. Considering the results of the steady-state fluorescence and time-resolved measurements, the excitation wavelength dependence of ESIPT is explained by state selective excitation due to the difference of the solvation, and the number of alkyl chain carbon atoms is found to be a good indicator of the effect of inhomogeneity for this reaction.

Photoexcitation dynamics of p-nitroaniline (pNA) have been investigated by femto-second transient absorption spectroscopy in water from liquid to supercritical conditions; along the isochoric line from the ambient condition to 664 K at 40.1 MPa and along the isothermal line from 40.1 to 36.1 MPa at 664 K. The rates of the back electron transfer reaction from the photoexcited charge transfer state to the electronic ground state was determined by the bleach recovery of the ground state absorption, and the successive vibrational relaxation in the electronic ground state was determined by the hot-band decay which was apparent at the red edge of the absorption. The variation of the back electron transfer rate was compared with the prediction based on the electron transfer theory including the Franck-Condon active vibrational modes. The results indicated that both the free energy change of the reaction and the change of the intramolecular vibrational reorganization energy cause the characteristic density (or temperature) dependence of the back electron transfer rate. The density dependence of the vibrational relaxation rate was compared with the collision frequency and the coordination number of the solvent molecule around the solute estimated by the molecular dynamics simulations. The density dependence of the coordination of a water oxygen atom to an amino hydrogen atom of pNA was found to be correlated with the density dependence of vibrational relaxation rate.

The excited-state proton-transfer (ESPT) reaction of 5-cyano-2-naphthol (5CN2) has been investigated in sub- and supercritical water using time-resolved fluorescence measurements. Under ambient conditions, a very fast decay of the fluorescence from the excited state of normal 5CN2 (ROH*) and a simultaneous increase of the fluorescence from the excited state of the anion species (RO(-)*) were observed, as reported previously. The very high ESPT rate was evaluated as 0.12 ps(-1). With increasing temperature at a constant pressure of 39.0 MPa, the proton transfer became slow. At 615 K and 39.0 MPa, another fluorescence from a new unknown chemical species appeared, which was assigned to the contact ion pair (CIP) of RO(-)* and the hydronium ion. With decreasing pressure at 664 K, the fluorescence from RO(-)* disappeared, and the fluorescence from ROH* and CIP was observed. At the very low density of supercritical water, only the fluorescence decay of ROH* was detected. The reaction dynamics was analyzed with the help of singular value decomposition and spectral decomposition using model functions. The ESPT rate was correlated with the solvent dielectric constant and/or the hydrogen-bonding ability.

Microscopic autofluorescence spectral imaging of chloroplasts in maize mesophyll cells using near-infrared laser excitation has previously shown that a photosystem I spectral component exhibits an intensity similar to that of photosystem II at ~294 K when a continuous-wave laser at 800-820 nm is used. To establish the generality of this phenomenon, chloroplasts in Parachlorella kessleri cells (P. kessleri) were studied. A continuous-wave laser at 785 nm promoted photosystem-I-specific fluorescence in P. kessleri chloroplasts. The difference in chlorophyll fluorescence peak wavelengths between P. kessleri and maize correlated well with those observed at cryogenic temperatures. To further clarify the nature of anti-Stokes fluorescence, we studied chloroplasts in acetone-treated P. kessleri cells (in a medium containing 15% (v/v) acetone) by microscopic fluorescence and absorption spectra on a cell-by-cell basis. A continuous-wave laser at 785 nm led to significant fluorescence from acetone-treated cells, which was attributed to aggregation of chlorophylls. Anti-Stokes fluorescence spectral imaging thus seems to be effective for detection of lowest-energy trap states that are only weakly fluorescent.

Fluorescence dynamics of 4'-N,N-diethylamino-3-hydroxyflavone (DEAHF) and its methoxy derivative (DEAMF) in various room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) have been studied mainly by an optical Kerr gate method. DEAMF showed a single band fluorescence whose peak shifted with time by the solvation dynamics. The averaged solvation time determined by the fluorescence peak shift was proportional to the viscosity of the solvent except for tetradecyltrihexylphosphonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide. The solvation times were consistent with reported values determined with different probe molecules. DEAHF showed dual fluorescence due to the normal and tautomer forms produced by the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT), and the relative intensities were dependent on the time and the solvent cation or anion species. By using the information of the fluorescence spectrum of DEAMF, the fluorescence spectrum of DEAHF at each delay time after the photoexcitation was decomposed into the normal and the tautomer fluorescence components, respectively. The normal component showed a very fast decay simulated by a biexponential function (2-3 and 20-30 ps) with an additional slower decay component. The tautomer component showed a rise with the time constants corresponding to the faster decay of the normal form with an additional instantaneous rise. The faster dynamics of the normal and tautomer population changes were assigned to the ESIPT process, while the slower decay of the fluorescence was attributed to the population decay from the excited state through the radiative and nonradiative processes. The average ESIPT time was much faster than the averaged solvation time of RTILs. Basically, the ESIPT kinetics in RTILs is similar to those in conventional liquid solvents like acetonitrile (Chou et al. J. Phys. Chem. A 2005, 109, 3777). The faster ESIPT is interpreted in terms of the activation barrierless process from the Franck-Condon state before the solvation of the normal state in the electronic excited state. With the advance of the solvation in the excited state, the normal form becomes relatively more stable than the tautomer form, which makes the ESIPT become an activation process.

A method of diffusion coefficient (D) measurement for proteins based on the pulsed laser-induced transient grating method using a photosensitive cross-linker was applied to the characterization of the pH denaturation process of holo- and apo-myoglobin (Mb) from the viewpoint of protein-water interaction. It was found that the pH denaturation curve monitored by D agrees quite well with that determined by the circular dichroism intensity for holo-Mb. This fact indicates that the changes in intermolecular interaction and the alpha-helix content occur simultaneously during the unfolding process. However, the pH dependence of D for apo-Mb was different from that of alpha-helix content. This different behavior can be explained in terms of the different denaturation steps for the secondary structure and the hydrogen bonding network of the intermediate species around pH 4; i.e., this intermediate is partially unfolded, but the hydrogen bonding network is dominantly an intramolecular one. Taking previously reported properties of this species into account, we conclude that water molecules are trapped in the hydrophobic core of the apo-Mb pH 4 intermediate. This fact suggests that the kinetic intermediate state of the protein folding process is a swollen state without water molecular exchange with the bulk phase.

The energy-releasing process and the conformational dynamics of water-soluble stilbene dendrimers upon photoexcitation are studied by the time-resolved transient grating method. While the energy relaxation and the conformational change are completed within 30 ns for the first generation (W-G1), slower dynamics are observed for the second (W-G2) and the third (W-G3) generations. The enthalpy change by the photoisomerization increases and the dynamics of the conformational change becomes slower with an increase in the generation. The diffusion coefficients (D) of the trans- and cis-forms of W-G2 and W-G3 are almost the same, whereas a slight difference is observed for W-G1. These characteristic features are consistently explained in terms of the electric charges on the dendron surface.

The photochemical reaction of 2-nitrobenzaldehyde (NBA) in various electrolyte solutions as well as in a solution with a protein is investigated from the viewpoint of the diffusion coefficient by using the time-resolved transient grating (TG) method. For studying reaction with optically silent materials such as electrolytes, we found that the diffusion coefficient is useful for identifying chemical species involved in the reaction. The TG signal that represents the diffusion process was dramatically changed by adding electrolytes such as Cl- or Br-, and this result indicates that these electrolytes should participate in the photochemical reaction of NBA. It was found that the time profile of the grating signal also depends on the addition of guanidine−HCl or apomyoglobin. The structural change of the protein associated with the NBA reaction is discussed.

The translational diffusion coefficients of ketyl radicals produced by a hydrogen abstraction reaction in ethanol, methanol, and cyclohexane are investigated by the transient grating (TG) method, from liquid phase to the medium-density region in wide temperature ranges. It is found that the diffusion coefficient of the radical (Dr) is smaller than that of a stable molecule with a similar size (Ds) even under supercritical conditions. In the medium-density region, the values of Dr in alcohols are differently dependent on temperature over viscosity from those in cyclohexane. The activation energy of Dr was determined and compared with that of solvent viscosity. We found that Dr/Ds decreases with decreasing density in the medium-density region for cyclohexane. This tendency is explained in terms of the local density enhancement in the medium-density region. In alcohols, the density dependence of Dr/Ds is not significant.

The structural and energy dynamics and molecular diffusion after the photodissociation of sperm whale carboxymyoglobin were investigated by the transient grating (TG) method. The quantitative measurement of the TG signal provides the volume change and released heat within 10 ns (−5 cm3 mol-1 and 151 kJ mol-1, respectively) as well as with a lifetime of 700 ns at 20 °C (12 cm3 mol-1 and 8 kJ mol-1) without any assumption. From the signal intensity with a wide range of grating vector (105 to 8 × 106 m-1), the molecular origin of the 700-ns dynamics is clearly attributed to the ligand escaping process from the protein interior to the solvent. Hence, a four-state model is appropriate to describe the ligand dissociation reaction even at room temperature. Participation of the salt bridge between Arg45 and the heme 6-propionate side chain as well as the enthalpy change and the structural change of this photodissociation reaction is discussed.

Translational diffusion constants of transient radicals produced by photochemical reactions of pyrazine, α-naphthoquinone, quinoxaline, and benzophenone with triethylamine (TEA) have been measured in trifluoromethane from ρr = 1.4 to 2.0, and α-naphthoquinone with TEA in carbon dioxide from ρr = 1.2 to 1.93, where ρr is the reduced density by the critical density of the solvent. The diffusion constants of the transient radicals almost linearly depend on the reciprocal of the solvent viscosity in the measured density region. The diffusion constants of the radicals are relatively smaller than those of stable molecules of similar molecular sizes, and the difference becomes smaller with increasing the molecular size, as is observed in liquid solution. However, the difference is smaller than that observed in the liquid solvent, which suggests that the effect of the solute-solvent attractive interaction on the diffusion constant is smaller in fluids at the medium-density region than in liquids.