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The ring opening of a dithienylethene photoswitch incorporated in a bridged boron-dipyrromethene - dithienylethene molecular dyad was investigated with ultrafast spectroscopy. Coherent vibrations in the electronic ground state of the boron-dipyrromethene are triggered after selective photoexcitation of the closed dithienylethene indicating vibrational coupling although the two moieties are electronically isolated. A distribution of short-lived modes and a long-lived mode at 143 cm−1 are observed. Analysis of the theoretical frequency spectrum indicates two modes at 97 cm−1 and 147 cm−1 which strongly modulate the electronic transition energy. Both modes exhibit a characteristic displacement of the bridge suggesting that the mechanical momentum of the initial geometry change after photoexcitation of the dithienylethene is transduced to the boron-dipyrromethene. The relaxation to the dithienylethene electronic ground state is accompanied by significant heat dissipation into the surrounding medium. In the investigated dyad, the boron-dipyrromethene acts as probe for the ultrafast photophysical processes in the dithienylethene.

We report the drastic improvement of output parameters of femtosecond noncollinear optical parametric amplifiers by applying supercontinuum seed pulses generated in CaF2 instead of sapphire and imaging via all reflective optics. Features of the setup are broad amplification bandwidths up to 310 THz (470–910 nm), an almost Gaussian beam profile, a divergence with M2 factor of less than 1.4, pulse to pulse energy fluctuations of less than 2.5% and compressibility of the pulses down to 16 fs. The high intensity of the supercontinuum seed pulse (80 nJ) yields a quantum efficiency for the conversion of pump to signal of more than 30%. Even for short wavelengths e.g. at 470 nm pulse energies above 30 μJ were obtained for 110 μJ of 400 nm pump light.

The first steps in the photocycles of the archaeal photoreceptor proteins sensory rhodopsin (SR) I and II from Halobacterium salinarum and SRII from Natronobacterium pharaonis have been studied by ultrafast pump/probe spectroscopy and steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy. The data for both species of the blue-light receptor SRII suggests that their primary reactions are nearly analogous with a fast decay of the excited electronic state in 300–400 fs and a transition between two red-shifted product states in 4–5 ps. Thus SRII behaves similarly to bacteriorhodopsin. In contrast for SRI at pH 6.0, which absorbs in the orange part of the spectrum, a strongly increased fluorescence quantum yield and a drastically slower and biexponential decay of the excited electronic state occurring on the picosecond time scale (5 ps and 33 ps) is observed. The results suggest that the primary reactions are controlled by the charge distribution in the vicinity of the Schiff base and demonstrate that there is no direct connection between absorption properties and reaction dynamics for the retinal protein family.

Pigment exchange in bacterial reaction centers (RC) of Rb. sphaeroides allows the systematic variation of the free energies of the primary (B A ) and secondary (H A ) electron acceptors. The effect of energetically elevated acceptor levels on the initial electron transfer (ET) step, on the P + B A − population and on the quantum yield of charge separation is explained within the stepwise ET model. Slower and less efficient charge separation with enhanced non-exponential character is found in the modified samples indicating that the native RC is a highly optimized system where small changes of an energy level may cause a significant reduction in efficiency.

The thioredoxin reductase active-site fragment H–Ala–Cys–Ala–Thr–Cys–Asp–Gly–Phe–OH [134–141], which is known for its high tendency to assume an almost identical conformation as in the intact enzyme, was backbone cyclized with the photoresponsive (4-amino)phenylazobenzoic acid (APB) to produce a monocyclic and disulfide-bridged bicyclic APB-peptide. Light-induced reversible cis/trans isomerization occurs at identical extents in both the linear and the two cyclic forms. Nuclear magnetic resonance conformational analysis clearly revealed that in the bicyclic APB-peptide both as a trans- and cis-azo-isomer the constraints imparted by the bicyclic structure do not allow the molecule to relax into a defined low energy conformation, thus making the molecule a frustrated system that flip-flops between multiple conformational states. Conversely, the monocyclic APB peptide folds into a well-defined lowest energy structure as a trans-azo-isomer, which upon photoisomerization to the cis-azo configuration relaxes into a less restricted conformational space. First femtosecond spectroscopic analysis of the dynamics of the photoreaction confirm a fast first phase on the femtosecond time scale related to the cis/trans isomerization of the azobenzene moiety followed by a slower phase in the picosecond time scale that involves an adjustment of the peptide backbone. Due to the well- defined photoresponsive two-state transition of this monocyclic peptide molecule, it represents a model system well suited for studying the ultrafast dynamics of conformational transitions by time-resolved spectroscopy. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biopoly 54: 489–500, 2000

In bacterial reaction centers the charge separation process across the photosynthetic membrane is predominantly driven by the excited state of the bacteriochlorophyll dimer (D). An X-ray structure analysis of the Phe M197→Tyr mutant reaction center from Rhodobacter sphaeroides at 2.7 A resolution suggests the formation of a hydrogen bond as postulated by Wachtveitl et al. [Biochemistry 32, 12875–12886, 1993] between the Tyr M197 hydroxy group and one of the 2a-acetyl carbonyls of D. In combination with electrochemically induced FTIR difference spectra showing a split band of the π-conjugated 9-keto carbonyl of D, there is clear evidence for the existence of such a hydrogen bond.

The cisright harpoon over left harpoon trans photoisomerization of the azobenzene building block 4-(4-aminophenylazo)benzoic acid incorporated in a cyclic peptide (see scheme) facilitated a two-state transition of the peptide chain from a rigid constrained conformation in the trans isomer into the largely free conformational space of the cis isomer.

Oscillatory components of the absorption changes in reaction centers from Rhodobacter sphaeroides are observed by femtosecond spectroscopy in the spectral region between 920 and 1100 nm covering the ranges of excited-state absorption and stimulated emission of the photoexcited primary donor and the long wavelength absorption band of the bacteriochlorophyll anion. These oscillations with a dominant frequency of 135 cm-1 are damped on the 0.4−0.8 ps time scale. The observations fit well into a model with vibrational wave packet motion on the excited-state potential surface modulating stimulated emission. Amplitudes and phases of the oscillation do not show any peculiarity within the absorption band of the bacteriochlorophyll anion, indicating that the interaction of this wave packet with electron transfer to the accessory bacteriochlorophyll is not required to explain the experimental data.

Femtosecond time resolved absorbance changes in the near infrared spectral region were recorded in photosynthetic reaction centers (RCs) of Rhodobacter ( Rb .) sphaeroides and Chloroflexus aurantiacus . For Rb. sphaeroides , wild type and site directed mutant RCs, where the tyrosine at the M210 position was replaced by phenylalanine and leucine, were investigated. In the mutant RCs the decay of the stimulated emission signal was drastically slower and displayed strong multiexponentiality. In the spectral range between 1000 and 1100 nm, the existence of a fast kinetic component with a time constant of 1 ps could be demonstrated. Based on the spectral and dichroic characteristics of the data, we suggest a weakly populated P + B A - state as first electron transfer intermediate in these mutants. The results indicate that primary electron transfer follows a stepwise mechanism, even in the case of an energetically increased primary acceptor. Investigations of the electronic structure of the photooxidized primary donor using ENDOR/TRIPLE spectroscopy demonstrated that changes at the position M210 mainly affect B A and not P.

Femtosecond spectroscopy shows that primary electron transfer in photosynthetic reaction centres is an ultrafast stepwise reaction where the electron is transferred via a chain of pigments. In a first reaction step, the electron is transferred from the special pair to the accessory bacteriochlorophyll with a time constant of ca . 3 ps. A second, subpicosecond reaction carries the electron to a bacteriopheophytin before it reaches the quinone Q A within 200 ps. Experiments on native and mutated reaction centres yield information on energetics, reorganization energies and electronic coupling of the reaction centre. A consistent theoretical treatment of the data shows that standard non–adiabatic theory describes well the primary electron transfer process at room temperature. However, for a special fast reacting mutant at low temperatures, the limits of non–adiabatic theory may be reached.

The initial electron transfer steps in pigment modified reaction centers, where bacteriopheophytin is replaced by plant pheophytin (R26.Phe-a RCs) have been investigated over a wide temperature range by femtosecond time-resolved spectroscopy. The experimental data obtained in the maximum of the bacteriochlorophyll anion band at 1020 nm show the existence of a high and long-lived population of the primary acceptor P+BA− even at 10 K. The data suggest a stepwise electron transfer mechanism with BA as primary acceptor also in the low temperature domain. A detailed data analysis suggests that the pigment modification leads to a situation with almost isoenergetic primary and secondary acceptor levels, approximately 450 cm−1 below P*. A Gaussian distribution (with σ = 400 cm −1) of the ΔG values has to be assumed to account for the strong dispersive character of the kinetics in this sample. Based on these assumptions, a model is presented that reproduces the observed kinetics, heterogeneity and temperature dependence.

Femtosecond transient absorption measurements of the photoisomerization of azobenzene excited at 435 nm in the long-wavelength formation with a dominating 170 fs and a weak 2 ps component. During the decay of the excited state some oscillatory features are found. Vibrational cooling of the hot photoproducts in the ground state occurs on a time scale of 10 ps. A slower initial photoreaction, which can be described by two time constants, 0.32 and 2.1 ps, is found for the trans-isomer. The experimental results support the idea, that excitation of the S1 (nπ∗) bands of azobenzene leads to photoisomerization via inversion at one of the nitrogen atoms.

In linear flexible peptides the isomeric equilibria of aminoacyl- l -proline peptide bonds are known to be shifted in favor of the trans configuration, whereas in N -urethanyl- l -proline compounds the cis configuration is preferred with stabilization of a C 7 conformation, i.e. of an inverse γ-type turn. To analyze the effects of a photoswitchable configuration in the urethane moiety on this small ordered structure element the photochrome azobenzene was incorporated as a urethane group into proline and the praline peptides ProPhe and ProPheGly. The phenylazobenzyloxycarbonyl compounds retain the preferred cis configuration of the C-N urethane bond and undergo a reversible photomodulated trans to cis isomerization of the azobenzene moiety with more or less pronounced effects on the distribution of the four possible isomers as detected by FTIR and NMR spectroscopy. Correspondingly, detectable changes in the population of the C 7 conformation were observed upon irradiation making this system highly promising for monitoring dynamics by time-resolved spectroscopy.

Spatial and temporal control over chemical and biological processes plays a key role in life and material sciences. Here we synthesized a two-photon-activatable glutathione (GSH) to trigger the interaction with glutathione S-transferase (GST) by light at superior spatiotemporal resolution. The compound shows fast and well-confined photoconversion into the bioactive GSH, which is free to interact with GST-tagged proteins. The GSH/GST interaction can be phototriggered, changing its affinity over several orders of magnitude into the nanomolar range. Multiplexed three-dimensional (3D) protein networks are simultaneously generated in situ through two-photon fs-pulsed laser-scanning excitation. The two-photon activation facilitates the three-dimensional assembly of protein structures in real time at hitherto unseen resolution in time and space, thus opening up new applications far beyond the presented examples.

We present supercontinua generated in LiF and CaF(2) revealing that LiF is advantageous especially in the near UV region since it pushes the cut-off wavelength about 17 nm towards lower wavelengths and the occurrence of color centers, which has been considered as a drawback up to now, is not a limitation for its applicability in femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Even though the color centers occur within a short time of illumination, they do not influence the supercontinuum generation significantly and they can furthermore, if desired, be eliminated from the substrate simply by heating. Thus LiF is a promising substrate for broad band measurements in the UV/vis range.

Retinylidene photoreceptors are ubiquitously present in marine protists as first documented by the identification of green proteorhodopsin (GPR). We present a detailed investigation of a rhodopsin from the protist Oxyrrhis marina (OR1) with respect to its spectroscopic properties and to its vectorial proton transport. Despite its homology to GPR, OR1's features differ markedly in its pH dependence. Protonation of the proton acceptor starts at pH below 4 and is sensitive to the ionic conditions. The mutation of a conserved histidine H62 did not influence the pK(a) value in a similar manner as in other proteorhodopsins where the charged histidine interacts with the proton acceptor forming the so-called His-Asp cluster. Mutational and pH-induced effects were further reflected in the temporal behavior upon light excitation ranging from femtoseconds to seconds. The primary photodynamics exhibits a high sensitivity to the environment of the proton acceptor D100 that are correlated to the different initial states. The mutation of the H62 does not affect photoisomerization at neutral pH. This is in agreement with NMR data indicating the absence of the His-Asp cluster. The subsequent steps in the photocycle revealed protonation reactions at the Schiff base coupled to proton pumping even at low pH. The main electrogenic steps are associated with the reprotonation of the Schiff base and internal proton donor. Hence, OR1 shows a different theme of the His-Asp organization where the low pK(a) of the proton acceptor is not dominated by this interaction, but by other electrostatic factors.

The primary reaction dynamics of channelrhodopsin-2 was investigated using femtosecond vis-pump/mid-IR probe spectroscopy. Due to the fast deactivation of the excited state in channelrhodopsin-2, it is possible to observe the direct impact of retinal isomerization on the protein surrounding. We show that the dominant negative band at 1665 cm(-1) tentatively assigned to an amide I vibration is developed with a time constant of 0.5 ps. Also a variety of side-chain vibrations are formed or intensified on this time scale. The comparison of the light-induced FT-IR spectra of channelrhodopsin-2 in H2O and D2O at 80 K enabled us to tentatively identify the contribution of Arg side chain(s). The subsequently observed decay of nearly the whole difference pattern has a particularly high impact on the C═C and C═N stretching vibrations of the retinal. This suggests that the underlying mechanism describes a cooling process in which the excess energy is redirected toward the retinal surrounding, e.g., the protein and functional water molecules. The pronounced protein contributions in comparison to other rhodopsins point to a very efficient energy redistribution in channelrhodopsin-2.

The origin of coherent oscillations in CdSe quantum dots and in the CdSe/methylviologen electron transfer system is studied. In CdSe/methylviologen coherent phonons are triggered by the electron transfer from the quantum dot to methylviologen.

We examine the photoinduced excited state dynamics of pyrene modified adenosine, a versatile probe for folding and hybridization of ribonucleic acids. Measurements in different solvents revealed complex ultrafast dynamics, but high robustness since the overall fluorescence quantum yield (Φ f ) is hardly affected. The result is a strong fluorescent RNA-probe whose spectral properties change in a defined way upon environmental changes.

The dynamics of a water soluble spiropyran is investigated by means of femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy in the visible and infrared spectral range revealing an ultrafast reversible switching behavior under aqueous conditions with a high fatigue resistance.

Femtosecond spectroscopy is used to study the molecular mechanisms of the primary electron transfer. Data on native and mutated reaction centers of Rhodopseudomonas viridis show, that primary electron transfer is an ultrafast stepwise reaction. The electron is transferred via a chain of pigments: In a first reaction step the electron is transported from the special pair to the accessory bacteriochlorophyll with a time constant of ≈ 3 ps. A second, faster reaction carries the electron with 0.65 ps to a bacteriopheophytin. Experiments on mutated reaction centers with strongly modified reaction times yield additional information on energetics, reorganisation energies and electronic coupling of the reaction center. A consistent theoretical treatment of the data shows that standard non-adiabatic theory describes well the primary electron transfer process. It also reveals that the realised reaction parameters optimise the reaction centers for highest possible quantum yield.

Femtosecond spectroscopy is used to study the primary electron transfer reactions in photosynthetic reaction centers, where the chromophore at the secondary acceptor site is changed from bacteriopheophytin a via 3-vinyl-bacteriopheophytin a and 3-acetyl-pheophytin a to pheophytin a. Pronounced changes in the primary electron transfer reactions are observed which are directly related to the redox potential of the different chromophores and the corresponding changes in free energy of the first intermediates. The reaction dynamics do not primarily correlate with the changes in absorption spectra.

Primary electron transfer was studied in modified reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides R26.1, in which both bacteriopheophytin-a molecules were replaced by pheophytin-a to more than 90%. The absorption spectrum of the modified reaction centers shows a new Q y band at 674 nm, while the Q y absorption of bacteriopheophytin-a at 760 nm in native reaction centers is not present. The bands assigned to the monomeric bacteriochlorophylls show a slight blue shift (3 nm) and small but distinct changes in the circular dichroism spectra. Subpicosecond absorption spectroscopy reveals that the electron transfer kinetics in modified reaction centers are different from the kinetics in native samples. The accessory bacteriochlorophyll anion can be directly observed in the spectral region around 1000 nm. A detailed analysis of the data suggests that the modification raised the energy of the radical pair state P + H A − , leading to a long-lived P + B A − population of 30%. Relative to P 7 the free energy levels of the intermediates are −450 cm −1 (P + B A − and −630 cm −1 (P + H A − ) in the modified reaction centers. Based on these calculations, a simplified electron transfer model is presented.

We characterized the dynamics of proteorhodopsin (PR), solubilized in diC7PC, a detergent micelle, by liquid-state NMR spectroscopy at T = 323 K. Insights into the dynamics of PR at different time scales could be obtained and dynamic hot spots could be identified at distinct, functionally relevant regions of the protein, including the BC loop, the EF loop, the N-terminal part of helix F and the C-terminal part of helix G. We further characterize the dependence of the photocycle on different detergents (n-Dodecyl β-D-maltoside DDM; 1,2-diheptanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine diC7PC) by ultrafast time-resolved UV/VIS spectroscopy. While the photocycle intermediates of PR in diC7PC and DDM exhibit highly similar spectral characteristics, significant changes in the population of these intermediates are observed. In-situ NMR experiments have been applied to characterize structural changes during the photocycle. Light-induced chemical shift changes detected during the photocycle in diC7PC are very small, in line with the changes in the population of intermediates in the photocycle of proteorhodopsin in diC7PC, where the late O-intermediate populated in DDM is missing and the population is shifted towards an equilibrium of intermediates states (M, N, O) without accumulation of a single populated intermediate.

The photocycle of the proton acceptor complex mutant D227N of the bacterial retinal protein proteorhodopsin is investigated employing steady state pH-titration experiments in the UV-visible range as well as femtosecond-pump-probe spectroscopy and flash photolysis in the visible spectral range. The evaluation of the pH-dependent spectra showed that the neutralization of the charge at position 227 has a remarkable influence on the ground state properties of the protein. Both the pK(a) values of the primary proton acceptor and of the Schiff base are considerably decreased. Femtosecond-time-resolved measurements demonstrate that the general S(1) deactivation pathway; that is, the K-state formation is preserved in the D227N mutant. However, the pH-dependence of the reaction rate is lost by the substitution of Asp227 with an asparagine. Also no significant kinetic differences are observed upon deuteration. This is explained by the lack of a strongly hydrogen-bonded water in the vicinity of Asp97, Asp227, and the Schiff base or a change in the hydrogen bonding of it (Ikeda et al. (2007) Biochemistry 46, 5365-5373). The flash photolysis measurements prove a considerably elongated photocycle with pronounced pH-dependence. Interestingly, at pH 9 the M-state is visible until the end of the reaction cycle, leading to the conclusion that the mutation does not only lower the pK(a) of the Schiff base in the unphotolyzed ground state but also prevents an efficient reprotonation reaction.

Nanodiscs (NDs) enable the analysis of membrane proteins (MP) in natural lipid bilayer environments. In combination with cell-free (CF) expression, they could be used for the co-translational insertion of MPs into defined membranes. This new approach allows the characterization of MPs without detergent contact and it could help to identify effects of particular lipids on catalytic activities. Association of MPs with different ND types, quality of the resulting MP/ND complexes as well as optimization parameters are still poorly analyzed. This study describes procedures to systematically improve CF expression protocols for the production of high quality MP/ND complexes. In order to reveal target dependent variations, the co-translational ND complex formation with the bacterial proton pump proteorhodopsin (PR), with the small multidrug resistance transporters SugE and EmrE, as well as with the Escherichia coli MraY translocase was studied. Parameters which modulate the efficiency of MP/ND complex formation have been identified and in particular effects of different lipid compositions of the ND membranes have been analyzed. Recorded force distance pattern as well as characteristic photocycle dynamics indicated the integration of functionally folded PR into NDs. Efficient complex formation of the E. coli MraY translocase was dependent on the ND size and on the lipid composition of the ND membranes. Active MraY protein could only be obtained with ND containing anionic lipids, thus providing new details for the in vitro analysis of this pharmaceutically important protein.

Femtosecond time-resolved absorption measurements were performed to investigate the influence of the pH, imidazole concentration, and point mutations on the isomerization process of Channelrhodopsin-2. Apart from the typical spectral characteristics of retinal isomerization, an additional absorption feature rises for the wild-type (wt) on a timescale from tens of ps to 1 ns within the spectral range of the photoproduct and is attributed to an equilibration between different K-intermediates. Remarkably, this absorption feature vanishes upon addition of imidazole or lowering the pH. In the latter case, the isomerization is dramatically slowed down, due to protonation of negatively charged amino acids within the retinal binding pocket, e.g., E123 and D253. Moreover, we investigated the influence of several point mutations within the retinal binding pocket E123T, E123D, C128T, and D156C. For E123T, the isomerization is retarded compared to wt and E123D, indicating that a negatively charged residue at this position functions as an effective catalyst in the isomerization process. In the case of the C128T mutant, all primary processes are slightly accelerated compared to the wt, whereas the isomerization dynamics for the D156C mutant is similar to wt after addition of imidazole.

The modification of reaction centers from Rhodobacter sphaeroides by the introduction of pheophytins instead of bacteriopheophytins leads to interesting changes in the primary photosynthetic reaction: long-living populations of the excited electronic state of the special pair P* and the bacteriochlorophyll anion B−A show up. The data allow the determination of the energetics in the reaction center. The free energy of the first intermediate P+B−A, where the electron has reached the accessory bacteriochlorophyll BA lies ≈ 450 cm−1 below the initially excited special pair P*.

We observe the CdSe longitudinal-optical ground-state phonon in the electron transfer system composed of CdSe quantum dots and methylviologen directly by femtosecond absorption spectroscopy. A significant phase shift indicates that the coherent oscillations are triggered by an ultrafast charge migration, which is the consequence of an electron transfer from the photoexcited quantum dot to the molecular acceptor methylviologen. In contrast, the observed coherent phonons in isolated quantum dots stem from the frequency modulation of the quantum dot excited-state spectrum. From the probe wavelength dependence of the longitudinal-optical phonons in the electronic ground state and excited state it is possible to determine a biexciton binding energy of 35 meV.

and we show herein the de novo structure ofthegreenvariantofproteorhodopsinsolvedbysolutionNMRspectroscopy.The structure of PR (Figure 1) was solved in the short-chain lipid diC7PC (diheptanoyl-phosphocholine) combininglong-range NOEs with restraints derived from paramagneticrelaxation enhancement (PRE) and residual dipolar cou-plings (RDCs). The seven transmembrane helices are con-nected by short loops. Instead of the anti-parallel b-sheet thatis observed between helices B and C in other microbialrhodopsins, torsion angles derived from the protein backbonedihedral angle prediction program TALOS+ suggest that PRresidues G87–P90 form a short b-turn. The loop betweenhelices D and E is longer than predicted by the secondarystructure prediction program TMHMM.

Caged compounds are widely utilized for light-triggered control of biological and chemical reactions. In our study we investigated the photo-induced decarboxylation of all three constitutional isomers of nitrophenylacetate (NPA), which can be regarded as caged-CO(2). UV-pump/IR-probe spectroscopy was used to directly observe the nascent CO(2) in the region of 2340 cm(-1). Together with quantum chemical calculations the reaction models for all three components could be obtained. For meta- and para-NPA the main decarboxylation pathway proceeds via a triplet state with a lifetime of 0.2 ns. In the case of ortho-NPA the photodecarboxylation reaction is suppressed by an H(+)- or H˙-transfer reaction in the excited state as a result of the proximity of the nitro and acetate substituents. Nevertheless, the photodecarboxylation can be investigated due to the isolated spectral position of the CO(2) band. The analysis of the data reveals that a weak ultrafast release channel (300 fs) represents the main photodecarboxylation reaction pathway for ortho-NPA. The detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms of CO(2) uncaging should provide general guidelines for the design of systematically improved nitrobenzyl cages.

Photoswitches suitably connected to model peptides allow to apply light as trigger for folding initiation. Time-resolved infrared spectroscopy provides a certain degree of structural information and allows to follow the kinetics of photoinduced conformational changes by investigating the transient, interconverting structures. Several secondary structure elements have been studied in detail with this approach. The recent development of light-responsive tertiary structures yields the next generation of model peptides on the way toward an understanding of protein folding.

Nitrodibenzofuran (NDBF) groups are used as photolabile “caging” groups to temporarily mask the Watson−Crick interaction of dA and dC residues. They show improved masking capabilities and are photodeprotected 12 times more efficiently than 1-(o-nitrophenyl)-ethyl (NPE) caging groups in these positions. Furthermore, NDBF groups can be removed wavelength-selectively in the presence of NPE groups. This will allow more complex (un)caging strategies of oligonucleotides − beyond the usual irreversible triggering.

The ultrafast charge separation at the quantum dot (QD)/molecular acceptor interface was investigated in terms of acceptor concentration and the size of the QD. Time-resolved experiments revealed that the electron transfer (ET) from the photoexcited QD to the molecular acceptor methylviologen (MV(2+)) occurs on the fs time scale for large acceptor concentrations and that the ET rate is strongly reduced for low concentrations. The increase in the acceptor concentration is accompanied with a growth in the overlap of donor and acceptor wavefunctions, resulting in a faster reaction until the MV(2+) concentration reaches a saturation limit of 0.3-0.4 MV(2+) nm(-2). Moreover, we found significant QD size dependence of the ET reaction, which is explained by a change of the free energy (ΔG).

Single mutations of three amino acid residues in the vicinity of the primary electron donor, P, in the reaction center (RC) from Rhodobacter (Rb.) sphaeroides were constructed and characterized in order to study the effects of hydrogen-bonding on the physical properties of P. The mutations, Phe M197-->Tyr, Met L248-->Thr, and Ser L244-->Gly, represent single amino acid changes near P designed to introduce residues found in Rhodopseudomonas (Rps.) viridis and to, thus, probe the effects of nonconserved residues. The mutations were designed to change the nonconserved H-bonding interactions of P in Rb. sphaeroides, at the level of a C2 acetyl, a C9 keto, and a C10 ester carbonyl of P, respectively, to those present in Rps. viridis. The Fourier transform (pre)resonance Raman (FTRR) spectra of P, in its reduced and oxidized states, from reaction centers of these mutants were studied to determine modifications of H-bond interactions of the pi-conjugated C2 acetyl and C9 keto carbonyl groups and the C10 carbomethoxy ester carbonyl groups of P. The vibrational spectra of reduced P in the Met L248-->Thr and Ser L244-->Gly mutants reveal no evidence for changes in the H-bonding pattern of P; this suggests that for Rb. sphaeroides wild type, Ser L244 is not H-bonded to the C10 ester carbonyl of PL. The vibrational spectrum of reduced P from the Phe M197-->Tyr mutant compared to that of wild type can unambiguously be interpreted in terms of the formation of a new H-bond with an acetyl carbonyl of P, specifically PM. Correlating with the new H-bond, the Phe M197-->Tyr mutant exhibits an electronic absorption spectrum where the P absorption band is significantly perturbed. Intact cell and chromatophore photobleaching spectra of the same mutant indicate that the P absorption band has red-shifted by ca. 10 nm; no such behavior is observed for the other mutants. As well, the P-->BPheL electron transfer rate does not seem to strongly depend on the H-bonding of the C2 acetyl carbonyl of PM to a tyrosine residue. The EPR zero-field splitting parameters, E and D, of the primary donor triplet are only slightly modified in the mutant reaction centers, on the order of 1%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Five site-directed mutants were engineered to substitute phenylalanine, serine, leucine, methionine, and glycine for tyrosine residue 162 of the pufL gene in Rhodobacter (R.) sphaeroides. Each of the mutations and the wild-type (WT) genes was expressed in the R. sphaeroides puf deletion strain PUF delta LMX21/3. Initial characterization revealed that all of the mutants were photoheterotrophically competent but that L162G and L162S were impaired. The amounts of mutant reaction centers expressed, the spectral characteristics, and the rates of intraprotein electron transfer and turnover were similar to the values obtained for WT. Kinetic measurements of photooxidized special pair rereduction mediated by the physiological donor cytochrome c2 in intact chemoheterotrophically grown cells revealed that the fast phase was abolished in all mutants and that the overall kinetics of rereduction was drastically slowed. It is concluded that L162Y plays a vital role in facilitating the rapid rereduction of the photooxidized bacteriochlorophyll dimer in R. sphaeroides.

A fast and simple measuring device for the detection of photosystem-II herbicides is presented. Herbicides are monitored by absorption changes at 860 nm after photobleacing for 2 s. This system can be easily miniaturized and consists of three components, sample cell, light source and detector for absorption measurements, and a computer data processing unit. Detection ranges and limits were determined for several herbicides. Plans for further miniaturization are discussed.

The photocycle of channelrhodopsin-2 is investigated in a comprehensive study by ultrafast absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy as well as flash photolysis in the visible spectral range. The ultrafast techniques reveal an excited-state decay mechanism analogous to that of the archaeal bacteriorhodopsin and sensory rhodopsin II from Natronomonas pharaonis. After a fast vibrational relaxation of the excited-state population with 150 fs its decay with mainly 400 fs is observed. Hereby, both the initial all-trans retinal ground state and the 13-cis-retinal K photoproduct are populated. The reaction proceeds with a 2.7 ps component assigned to cooling processes. Small spectral shifts are observed on a 200 ps timescale. They are attributed to conformational rearrangements in the retinal binding pocket. The subsequent dynamics progresses with the formation of an M-like intermediate (7 and 120 μs), which decays into red-shifted states within 3 ms. Ground-state recovery including channel closing and reisomerization of the retinal chromophore occurs in a triexponential manner (6 ms, 33 ms, 3.4 s). To learn more about the energy barriers between the different photocycle intermediates, temperature-dependent flash photolysis measurements are performed between 10 and 30°C. The first five time constants decrease with increasing temperature. The calculated thermodynamic parameters indicate that the closing mechanism is controlled by large negative entropy changes. The last time constant is temperature independent, which demonstrates that the photocycle is most likely completed by a series of individual steps recovering the initial structure.

A composite model system which consists of a molecular donor/acceptor pair coupled to the surface of metal oxide nanoporous films is proposed to study the contribution of the surface trap states and their influence on the interfacial ET as well as charge trapping and spatial diffusion processes in films. The photophysics of this donor/acceptor system is investigated by time-resolved transient absorbance spectroscopy in the UV/Vis (347-675 nm) spectral region. Variation of the band gap allows one to disentangle the ET pathways. Adsorption of the donor/acceptor pair on the nonreactive Al(2)O(3) surface shows that coupling to the surface assists electron transfer between adsorbed donor and acceptor molecules, resulting in ultrafast intermolecular electron transfer of approximately 100 fs. On the other hand, a competition between interfacial and intermolecular electron transfer is observed for the donor/acceptor pair coupled to a reactive TiO(2) surface. The subsequent transfer of the conduction band electron to the electron acceptor is examined by monitoring the free charge carrier absorption in the mid-IR (approximately 5 microm) spectral region.

A series of short RNA duplexes containing one or two 1-ethynylpyrene-modified adenine bases was synthesised. The melting behaviour of these duplexes was examined by monitoring temperature-dependent pyrene fluorescence. In the singly modified RNA duplexes, the bases flanking the ethynylpyrene-rA were varied to examine the sequence specificity of the fluorescence change of pyrene upon RNA hybridisation. Because an increase in pyrene fluorescence upon melting of the duplex can be correlated with intercalation of pyrene, and a decrease is usually associated with the position of pyrene outside the strand, a relationship between the flanking bases and the tendency of the dye to intercalate has been established. It was found that pyrene intercalation is less likely to take place if the modified base is flanked only by A–U base pairs. Flanking G–C base pairs, even only in the 5′-direction of the modified base, will favour intercalation. In addition, we examined a doubly modified compound that had a pyrene located on each strand. The spectra indicated that the two pyrenes were close enough for interaction. Upon melting of the strand, a fluorescence blue shift corresponding to the dissociation of the pyrene–pyrene complex could be observed in addition to the intensity effect already known from the singly modified compounds. Two melting curves based on the different properties of the fluorophore could be extracted, leading to different melting points corresponding to the global duplex melting and to the change of local pyrene environment, respectively.

Light-induced reaction dynamics of isolated photosynthetic membranes obtained from wild-type (WT) and reaction center (RC)-subunit deletion strains SPUHK1 (an H-subunit deletion mutant) and SK Delta LM (an (L+M) deletion mutant) of the purple non-sulphur bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum have been investigated by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Upon excitation of the spirilloxanthin (Spx) S(2) state at 546 nm, of the bacteriochlorophyll Soret band at 388 nm and probing spectral regions, which are characteristic for carotenoids, similar dynamics in the SPUHK1, SK Delta LM and WT strains could be observed. The excitation of Spx S(2) is followed by the simultaneous population of the lower singlet excited states S(1) and S* which decay with lifetimes of 1.4 and 5 ps, respectively for the mutants, and 1.4 and 4 ps, respectively, for the wild-type. The excitation of the BChl Soret band is followed by relaxation into BChl lower excited states which compete with excitation energy transfer BChl-to-Spx. The deexcitation pathway BChl(Soret) --Spx(S(2)) --Spx(S(1)) occurs with the same transition rate for all investigated samples (WT, SPUHK1 and SK Delta LM). The kinetic traces measured for the Spx S(1) --S(N) transition display similar behaviour for all samples showing a positive signal which increases within the first 400 fs (i.e. the time needed for the excitation energy to reach the Spx S(1) excited state) and decays with a lifetime of about 1.5 ps. This suggests that the Spx excited state dynamics in the investigated complexes do not differ significantly. Moreover, a longer excited state lifetime of BChl for SPUHK1 in comparison to WT was observed, consistent with a photochemical quenching channel present in the presence of RC. For long delay times, photobleaching of the RC special pair and an electrochromic blue shift of the monomeric BChl a can be observed only for the WT but not for the mutants. The close similarity of the excited state decay processes of all strains indicates that the pigment geometry of the LH1 complex in native membranes is unaffected by the presence of an RC and allows us to draw a model representation of the WT, SK Delta LM and SPUHK1 PSU complexes.

Proteorhodopsin (PR), a light-driven proton pump from marine proteobacteria, exhibits photocycle characteristics similar to bacteriorhodopsin (BR) at neutral pH, including an M-like photointermediate. However, at acidic pH, spectroscopic evidence for an M-like species was absent, and the vectoriality of proton pumping was inverted. To gain further insight into this unusual property, we examined the voltage dependence of stationary and laser flash-induced photocurrents of PR under different pH conditions upon expression in Xenopus oocytes. The current–voltage curves were linear under all conditions tested, and photocurrent reversal potentials distinctly depended on the pH gradient. PR mutants D97N and D97T exhibited transient and stationary inward currents already at neutral pH, showing that neutralization of the proton acceptor abolishes forward pumping and permits only inward proton transport. Mutation E108G, which disrupts the donor site for Schiff base (SB) reprotonation, resulted in largely reduced photocurrents, which could be strongly stimulated by azide, similar to previous observations on BR mutant D96G. When PR and BR photocurrents in response to blue or green laser flashes during or after continuous illumination were compared, direct electrical evidence for the occurrence of an M-like intermediate at neutral pH could only be obtained when reprotonation of the SB was slowed down by PR mutation E108G. For PR at acidic pH, laser flashes only produced inwardly directed photocurrents, independent from background illumination, thus precluding electrical identification of an M-like species. However, when visible absorption spectroscopy was carried out at low temperatures, occurrence of an M-like species was robustly observed at low pH. This indicates that SB deprotonation and reprotonation occur during the PR photocycle also at low pH. Our results corroborate the conclusion that in PR, the direction of proton pumping can be switched by changes in pH and membrane potential, with the protonation state of Asp-97 being the key determinant for selecting between transport modes.

Ultrafast ET with a characteristic time constant of approximately 70 fs between CdSe QDs (mean radii of 1.4 nm) photoexcited in the lowest 1S electron state (lambda(exc) = 539 nm), and the molecular electron acceptor MV(2+) adsorbed on the QD surface was observed. The photophysics of such a system was investigated by time-resolved transient absorbance spectroscopy in the UV-visible spectral region. Our studies for the coupled system as a function of excitation intensity at lambda(exc) = 387 nm show that the ET processes compete efficiently with Auger recombination in CdSe QDs and at least 4 e-h pairs can be separated by ET to the electron acceptor MV(2+).

Close to the edge: Photoexcitation of alizarin coupled to the surface of mesoporous TiO(2) films leads to ultrafast electron transfer to the TiO(2) conduction band (see picture). Complex kinetics after photoexcitation depend on the excitation energy, and indicate a position of the alizarin excited state close to the TiO(2) conduction band edge, where the density of acceptor states is reduced. The photoinduced dynamics in Al(2)O(3) and TiO(2) mesoporous films sensitized by the strongly coupled alizarin dye is investigated by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy in the spectral range from UV to mid-IR. Alizarin/Al(2)O(3) acts as a nonreactive reference system, in which no electron transfer is observed. For comparison, the photoexcitation of the alizarin dye coupled to the surface of TiO(2) films leads to ultrafast electron transfer from the dye to the TiO(2) conduction band on the sub-100-fs timescale. We observe a fast relaxation of the alizarin excited state as well as a fast recombination of injected electrons with the alizarin cation on the picosecond timescale, which gives rise to very complex kinetics at short delay times. The infrared measurements clearly indicate that trapping of injected electrons is the main mechanism responsible for the observed long-lived charge separation in TiO(2) mesoporous films. The experimental findings can be explained by a position of the dye excited state close to the conduction band edge.

This The dynamics of 4-(phenylazo)benzoic acid coupled to Al2O3 and TiO2 films is described. The drastically altered photochemistry of the optical switch upon absorption to TiO2 films reflects the competition between electron transfer and intramolecular relaxation.

Photophysics of a molecular donor/acceptor pair coupled to the surface of metal oxide nanoporous films was studied via transient absorbance spectroscopy. Competition between interfacial and intermolecular electron transfer was studied for the donor/acceptor pair coupled to a reactive TiO2 surface. The subsequent transfer of the conduction band electron to the electron acceptor was analyzed by monitoring the free charge carrier absorption in the mid-IR (~5µm) spectral region.

Recent theoretical and experimental studies reveal the central role of zeaxanthin radical cations (Zea•+) in regulation of photosynthetic light harvesting. Two-color two-photon spectroscopy on LHC-II protein CP29 reveals the in-situ photodynamics of Zea•+.