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Engineering the vibrational coherence of vision into a synthetic molecular device
- Source :
- Nature Communications, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2018), Nature Communications, Nature Communications, Nature Publishing Group, 2018, 9 (1), ⟨10.1038/s41467-017-02668-w⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Nature Portfolio, 2018.
-
Abstract
- The light-induced double-bond isomerization of the visual pigment rhodopsin operates a molecular-level optomechanical energy transduction, which triggers a crucial protein structure change. In fact, rhodopsin isomerization occurs according to a unique, ultrafast mechanism that preserves mode-specific vibrational coherence all the way from the reactant excited state to the primary photoproduct ground state. The engineering of such an energy-funnelling function in synthetic compounds would pave the way towards biomimetic molecular machines capable of achieving optimum light-to-mechanical energy conversion. Here we use resonance and off-resonance vibrational coherence spectroscopy to demonstrate that a rhodopsin-like isomerization operates in a biomimetic molecular switch in solution. Furthermore, by using quantum chemical simulations, we show why the observed coherent nuclear motion critically depends on minor chemical modifications capable to induce specific geometric and electronic effects. This finding provides a strategy for engineering vibrationally coherent motions in other synthetic systems.<br />The ultrafast, vibrationally coherent photoisomerization of rhodopsin is a model of efficient photomechanical energy conversion at the molecular scale. Here, the authors demonstrate a similar photoreaction in synthetic compounds, unraveling the underlying mechanism and discussing its implications.
- Subjects :
- Genetics and Molecular Biology (all)
Rhodopsin
Alkylation
Light
Science
Biochemistry
Vibration
Article
Physics and Astronomy (all)
Biomimetic Materials
Physics::Atomic and Molecular Clusters
Animals
Humans
Pyrroles
Physics::Chemical Physics
lcsh:Science
Vision, Ocular
ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS
Quantitative Biology::Biomolecules
Spectrum Analysis
Chemistry (all)
Optical Devices
Chemical Engineering
Photochemical Processes
Indans
Retinaldehyde
Quantum Theory
lcsh:Q
[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-CHEM-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Chemical Physics [physics.chem-ph]
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (all)
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20411723
- Volume :
- 9
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Nature Communications
- Accession number :
- edsair.pmid.dedup....85bd665d71e451b3bd893a30b2f00f91