Abstract
Carotenoids play a number of roles in living organisms. In addition to their well-know light-harvesting function in photosynthesis, they have also photoprotective and antioxidative functions in various physiological systems. Studies of dynamics of carotenoid excited states have established the following scheme: after excitation of a carotenoid to its S2 state (1Bu+), a fast relaxation to the Si state (2Ag-) occurs on a time scale of 50-300 fs. The S1 state relaxes to its ground state S0 on the time scale of 1-300 ps. Peridinin is a highly substituted carotenoid occurring in some dinoflagellates where it is the principle carotenoid of the water soluble light-harvesting peridinin-chlorophyll-protein (PCP), whose structure has been resolved to 2.0 A. The PCP complex exhibits an exceptional stoichiometry of 8 peridinin and 2 chlorophyll a (Chl-a) molecules. This, together with the unusual carotenoid structure, has initiated several studies focusing on spectroscopic properties of peridinin that revealed unique photo-physical properties of peridinin, are discussed in this chapter.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Femtochemistry and femtobiology |
Subtitle of host publication | Ultrafast events in molecular science |
Editors | Monique M. Martin, James T. Hynes |
Place of Publication | Amsterdam |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Pages | 445-452 |
Number of pages | 8 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780080506265 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780444516565 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 16 Apr 2004 |
Event | Ultrafast Events in Molecular Science: 6th International Conference on Femtochemistry - Maison de la Chimie, Paris, France Duration: 6 Jul 2003 → 10 Jul 2003 |
Conference
Conference | Ultrafast Events in Molecular Science |
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Country/Territory | France |
City | Paris |
Period | 6/07/03 → 10/07/03 |