Carotenoid to chlorophyll energy transfer in the peridinin-chlorophyll-a-protein complex involves an intramolecular charge transfer state

Donatas Zigmantas, Roger G. Hiller, Villy Sundström, Tomáš Polívka*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    191 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Carotenoids are, along with chlorophylls, crucial pigments involved in light-harvesting processes in photosynthetic organisms. Details of carotenoid to chlorophyll energy transfer mechanisms and their dependence on structural variability of carotenoids are as yet poorly understood. Here, we employ femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy to reveal energy transfer pathways in the peridinin-chlorophyll-a-protein (PCP) complex containing the highly substituted carotenoid peridinin, which includes an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) state in its excited state manifold. Extending the transient absorption spectra toward near-infrared region (600-1800 nm) allowed us to separate contributions from different low-lying excited states of peridinin. The results demonstrate a special light-harvesting strategy in the PCP complex that uses the ICT state of peridinin to enhance energy transfer efficiency.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)16760-16765
    Number of pages6
    JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    Volume99
    Issue number26
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 24 Dec 2002

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