Ultrafast dynamics of carotenoid excited States-from solution to natural and artificial systems

Fine control of chlorophyll-carotenoid interactions defines the functionality of light-harvesting proteins in plants

Photosynthetic antenna proteins can be thought of as "programmed solvents", which bind pigments at specific mutual orientations, thus tuning the overall energetic landscape and ensuring highly efficient light-harvesting. While positioning of chlorophyll cofactors is well understood and rationalized by the principle of an "energy funnel", the carotenoids still pose many open questions. Particularly, their short excited state lifetime (<25 ps) renders them potential energy sinks able to compete with the reaction centers and drastically undermine light-harvesting efficiency. Exploration of the orientational phase-space revealed that the placement of central carotenoids minimizes their interaction with the nearest chlorophylls in the plant antenna complexes LHCII, CP26, CP29 and LHCI. At the same time we show that this interaction is highly sensitive to structural perturbations, which has a profound effect on the overall lifetime of the complex. This links the protein dynamics to the light-harvesting regulation in plants by the carotenoids.

New Perspectives on an Old Issue: A Comparative MS-CASPT2 and OM2-MRCI Study of Polyenes and Protonated Schiff Bases

Polyenic systems are involved in light perception of numerous living organisms. Although a π-conjugated backbone is a common feature of all polyenes, their photophysics may vary. We provide a comparative quantum mechanical study of low-lying S₁ and S₂ excited states in short (3-5 double bonds) symmetric all-trans linear polyenes and corresponding protonated Schiff bases. In our investigation, we use the well-established ab initio multireference CASPT2 approach and benchmark the efficient semiempirical OM2-MRCI approach against it. For all protonated Schiff bases, MS-CASPT2 results in two distinct S₁ minima with inverted and noninverted bond length pattern, respectively. We find that OM2-MRCI is a computationally affordable and reliable alternative to MS-CASPT2 for investigations of polyenic systems, particularly when highly demanding calculations (e.g. excited-state dynamics) need to be performed.

Excitation energy transfer from the bacteriochlorophyll Soret band to carotenoids in the LH2 light-harvesting complex from Ectothiorhodospira haloalkaliphila is negligible

Pathways of intramolecular conversion and intermolecular electronic excitation energy transfer (EET) in the photosynthetic apparatus of purple bacteria remain subject to debate. Here we experimentally tested the possibility of EET from the bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) Soret band to the singlet S₂ level of carotenoids using femtosecond pump-probe measurements and steady-state fluorescence excitation and absorption measurements in the near-ultraviolet and visible spectral ranges. The efficiency of EET from the Soret band of BChl to S₂ of the carotenoids in light-harvesting complex LH2 from the purple bacterium Ectothiorhodospira haloalkaliphila appeared not to exceed a few percent.

A new energy transfer channel from carotenoids to chlorophylls in purple bacteria

It is unclear whether there is an intermediate dark state between the S₂ and S₁ states of carotenoids. Previous two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy measurements support its existence and its involvement in the energy transfer from carotenoids to chlorophylls, but there is still considerable debate on the origin of this dark state and how it regulates the energy transfer process. Here we use ab initio calculations on excited-state dynamics and simulated two-dimensional electronic spectrum of carotenoids from purple bacteria to provide evidence supporting that the dark state may be assigned to a new A_g⁺ state. Our calculations also indicate that groups on the conjugation backbone of carotenoids may substantially affect the excited-state levels and the energy transfer process. These results contribute to a better understanding of carotenoid excited states.

Carotenoids harvest energy from light and transfer it to chlorophylls during photosynthesis. Here, Feng et al. perform ab initio calculations on excited-state dynamics and simulated 2D electronic spectrum of carotenoids, supporting the existence of a new excited state in carotenoids.

Harnessing White-Light Luminescence via Tunable Singlet-and Triplet-Derived Emissions Based on Gold(III) Complexes

White light emitting gold(III) complexes were synthesized by tuning the percentage of metal dπ contribution in the charge transfer. This was achieved through specific tailoring of the ligand scaffold, which led to increase in the HOMO π-energy properties, resulting in a decrease of efficiency on the intersystem crossing (ISC). As a consequence, monomolecular based singlet- and triplet-derived emission covering the entire visible spectrum with quantum yield up to 28 % and CIE-1931 chromaticity coordinates of (0.29, 0.33) to (0.32, 0.40) could be obtained. Furthermore, two complexes displayed excitation-dependent emission property due to hyper-ISC allowing the regulation of the ratio between fluorescence versus phosphorescence intensity and accomplish precise tuning of white light emission.

Polarization-controlled optimal scatter suppression in transient absorption spectroscopy

Ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy is a powerful technique to study fast photo-induced processes, such as electron, proton and energy transfer, isomerization and molecular dynamics, in a diverse range of samples, including solid state materials and proteins. Many such experiments suffer from signal distortion by scattered excitation light, in particular close to the excitation (pump) frequency. Scattered light can be effectively suppressed by a polarizer oriented perpendicular to the excitation polarization and positioned behind the sample in the optical path of the probe beam. However, this introduces anisotropic polarization contributions into the recorded signal. We present an approach based on setting specific polarizations of the pump and probe pulses, combined with a polarizer behind the sample. Together, this controls the signal-to-scatter ratio (SSR), while maintaining isotropic signal. We present SSR for the full range of polarizations and analytically derive the optimal configuration at angles of 40.5° between probe and pump and of 66.9° between polarizer and pump polarizations. This improves SSR by (or compared to polarizer parallel to probe). The calculations are validated by transient absorption experiments on the common fluorescent dye Rhodamine B. This approach provides a simple method to considerably improve the SSR in transient absorption spectroscopy.

Excited state properties of β-carotene analogs incorporating a lactone ring

Carotenoids possessing a carbonyl group along their polyene backbone exhibit unique excited state properties due to the occurrence of intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) in the excited state. In fact, the ICT characteristics of naturally occurring carbonyl carotenoids play an essential role in the highly efficient energy transfer that proceeds in aquatic photosynthetic antenna systems. In the present study, we synthesized two short-chain polyene carotenoids incorporating a lactone ring, denoted as BL-7 and BL-8, having seven and eight conjugated double bonds (n = 7 and 8), respectively. The excited state properties of these compounds were directly compared to those of their non-carbonyl counterparts to clarify the role of the carbonyl group in the generation of ICT. The energies of the optically allowed S₂ states for BL-7 and BL-8 were found to be more than 0.3 eV (2400 cm^-1) below those of non-carbonyl short β-carotene homologs. Ultrafast spectroscopic data demonstrated various solvent polarity-induced effects, including the appearance of stimulated emission in the near-IR region in the case of BL-7, and significant lifetime shortening of the lowest-lying singlet S₁ excited states of both BL-7 and BL-8. These results suggest that these compounds exhibit ICT characteristics.

Excitation Energy Transfer by Coherent and Incoherent Mechanisms in the Peridinin-Chlorophyll a Protein

Excitation energy transfer from peridinin to chlorophyll (Chl) a is unusually efficient in the peridinin-chlorophyll a protein (PCP) from dinoflagellates. This enhanced performance is derived from the long intrinsic lifetime of 4.4 ps for the S₂ (1¹B_u⁺) state of peridinin in PCP, which arises from the electron-withdrawing properties of its carbonyl substituent. Results from heterodyne transient grating spectroscopy indicate that S₂ serves as the donor for two channels of energy transfer: a 30 fs process involving quantum coherence and delocalized peridinin-Chl states and an incoherent, 2.5 ps process initiated by dynamic exciton localization, which accompanies the formation of a conformationally distorted intermediate in 45 fs. The lifetime of the S₂ state is lengthened in PCP by its intramolecular charge-transfer character, which increases the system-bath coupling and slows the torsional motions that promote nonradiative decay to the S₁ (2¹A_g^-) state.

The carotenoid pathway: what is important for excitation quenching in plant antenna complexes?

Plant light-harvesting is regulated by the Non-Photochemical Quenching (NPQ) mechanism involving the slow trapping of excitation energy by carotenoids in the Photosystem II (PSII) antenna in response to high light.

Ultrafast spectroscopy tracks carotenoid configurations in the orange and red carotenoid proteins from cyanobacteria

A quenching mechanism mediated by the orange carotenoid protein (OCP) is one of the ways cyanobacteria protect themselves against photooxidative stress. Here, we present a femtosecond spectroscopic study comparing OCP and RCP (red carotenoid protein) samples binding different carotenoids. We confirmed significant changes in carotenoid configuration upon OCP activation reported by Leverenz et al. (Science 348:1463-1466. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa7234 , 2015) by comparing the transient spectra of OCP and RCP. The most important marker of these changes was the magnitude of the transient signal associated with the carotenoid intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) state. While OCP with canthaxanthin exhibited a weak ICT signal, it increased significantly for canthaxanthin bound to RCP. On the contrary, a strong ICT signal was recorded in OCP binding echinenone excited at the red edge of the absorption spectrum. Because the carbonyl oxygen responsible for the appearance of the ICT signal is located at the end rings of both carotenoids, the magnitude of the ICT signal can be used to estimate the torsion angles of the end rings. Application of two different excitation wavelengths to study OCP demonstrated that the OCP sample contains two spectroscopically distinct populations, none of which is corresponding to the photoactivated product of OCP.

Twisting a β-Carotene, an Adaptive Trick from Nature for Dissipating Energy during Photoprotection

Cyanobacteria possess a family of one-helix high light-inducible proteins (Hlips) that are homologous to light-harvesting antenna of plants and algae. An Hlip protein, high light-inducible protein D (HliD) purified as a small complex with the Ycf39 protein is evaluated using resonance Raman spectroscopy. We show that the HliD binds two different β-carotenes, each present in two non-equivalent binding pockets with different conformations, having their (0,0) absorption maxima at 489 and 522 nm, respectively. Both populations of β-carotene molecules were in all-trans configuration and the absorption position of the farthest blue-shifted β-carotene was attributed entirely to the polarizability of the environment in its binding pocket. In contrast, the absorption maximum of the red-shifted β-carotene was attributed to two different factors: the polarizability of the environment in its binding pocket and, more importantly, to the conformation of its β-rings. This second β-carotene has highly twisted β-rings adopting a flat conformation, which implies that the effective conjugation length N is extended up to 10.5 modifying the energetic levels. This increase in N will also result in a lower S₁ energy state, which may provide a permanent energy dissipation channel. Analysis of the carbonyl stretching region for chlorophyll a excitations indicates that the HliD binds six chlorophyll a molecules in five non-equivalent binding sites, with at least one chlorophyll a presenting a slight distortion to its macrocycle. The binding modes and conformations of HliD-bound pigments are discussed with respect to the known structures of LHCII and CP29.

Temperature dependence of aggregated structure of β-carotene by absorption spectral experiment and simulation

β-carotene can self-assemble to form J- or H-type aggregate in hydrophilic environments, which is crucial for the proper functioning of biological system. Although several ways controlling the formation of the two types of aggregate in hydrated ethanol have been investigated in recent years, our study provided another way to control whether J- or H- β-carotene was formed and presented a method to investigate the aggregated structure. For this purpose, the aggregates of β-carotene formed at different temperatures were studied by UV-Vis spectra and a computational method based on Frenkel exciton was applied to simulate the absorption spectra to obtain the aggregated structure of the β-carotene. The analysis showed that β-carotene formed weakly coupled H-aggregate at 15°C in 1:1 ethanol-water solvent, and with the increase of temperature it tended to form J-type of aggregate. The absorption spectral simulation based on one-dimensional Frenkel exciton model revealed that good fit with the experiment was obtained with distance between neighbor molecules r=0.82nm, disorder of the system D=1500cm(-1) for H-type and r=1.04nm, D=1800cm(-1) for J-type.

Electron transfer between carotenoid and chlorophyll contributes to quenching in the LHCSR1 protein from Physcomitrella patens

Plants harvest photons for photosynthesis using light-harvesting complexes (LHCs)-an array of chlorophyll proteins that can reversibly switch from harvesting to energy-dissipation mode to prevent over-excitation and damage of the photosynthetic apparatus. In unicellular algae and lower plants this process requires the LHCSR proteins which senses over-acidification of the lumen trough protonatable residues exposed to the thylakoid lumen to activate quenching reactions. Further activation is provided by replacement of the violaxanthin ligand with its de-epoxidized product, zeaxanthin, also induced by excess light. We have produced the ppLHCSR1 protein from Physcomitrella patens by over-expression in tobacco and purified it in either its violaxanthin- or the zeaxanthin-binding form with the aim of analyzing their spectroscopic properties at either neutral or acidic pH. Using femtosecond spectroscopy, we demonstrated that the energy dissipation is achieved by two distinct quenching mechanism which are both activated by low pH. The first is present in both ppLHCSR1-Vio and ppLHCSR1-Zea and is characterized by 30-40ps time constant. The spectrum of the quenching product is reminiscent of a carotenoid radical cation, suggesting that the pH-induced quenching mechanism is likely electron transfer from the carotenoid to the excited Chl a. In addition, a second quenching channel populating the S1 state of carotenoid via energy transfer from Chl is found exclusively in the ppLHCSR1-Zea at pH5. These results provide proof of principle that more than one quenching mechanism may operate in the LHC superfamily and also help understanding the photoprotective role of LHCSR proteins and the evolution of LHC antennae.

Surface-Enhanced Raman and Surface-Enhanced Hyper-Raman Scattering of Thiol-Functionalized Carotene

A thiol-modified carotene, 7'-apo-7'-(4-mercaptomethylphenyl)-β-carotene, was used to obtain nonresonant surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of carotene at an excitation wavelength of 1064 nm, which were compared with resonant SERS spectra at an excitation wavelength of 532 nm. These spectra and surface-enhanced hyper-Raman scattering (SEHRS) spectra of the functionalized carotene were compared with the spectra of nonmodified β-carotene. Using SERS, normal Raman, and SEHRS spectra, all obtained for the resonant case, the interaction of the carotene molecules with silver nanoparticles, as well as the influence of the resonance enhancement and the SERS enhancement on the spectra, were investigated. The interaction with the silver surface occurs for both functionalized and nonfunctionalized β-carotene, but only the stronger functionalization-induced interaction enables the acquisition of nonresonant SERS spectra of β-carotene at low concentrations. The resonant SEHRS and SERS spectra are very similar. Nevertheless, the SEHRS spectra contain additional bands of infrared-active modes of carotene. Increased contributions from bands that experience low resonance enhancement point to a strong interaction between silver nanoparticles and electronic levels of the molecules, thereby giving rise to a decrease in the resonance enhancement in SERS and SEHRS.

Revising Intramolecular Photoinduced Electron Transfer (PET) from First-Principles

Photoinduced electron transfer (PET) plays relevant roles in many areas of chemistry, including charge separation processes in photovoltaics, natural and artificial photosynthesis, and photoluminescence sensors and switches. As in many other photochemical scenarios, the structural and energetic factors play relevant roles in determining the rates and efficiencies of PET and its competitive photodeactivation processes. Particularly, in the field of fluorescent sensors and switches, intramolecular PET is believed (in many cases without compelling experimental proof) to be responsible of the quench of fluorescence. There is an increasing experimental interest in fluorophore's molecular design and on achieving optimal excitation/emission spectra, excitation coefficients, and fluorescence quantum yields (importantly for bioimaging purposes), but less efforts are devoted to fundamental mechanistic studies. In this Account, I revise the origins of the fluorescence quenching in some of these systems with state-of-the-art quantum chemical tools. These studies go beyond the common strategy of analyzing frontier orbital energy diagrams and performing PET thermodynamics calculations. Instead, the potential energy surfaces (PESs) of the lowest-lying excited states are explored with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) and complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) calculations and the radiative and nonradiative decay rates from the involved excited states are computed from first-principles using a thermal vibration correlation function formalism. With such a strategy, this work reveals the real origins of the fluorescence quenching, herein entitled as dark-state quenching. Dark states (those that do not absorb or emit light) are often elusive to experiments and thus, computational investigations can provide novel insights into the actual photodeactivation mechanisms. The success of the dark-state quenching mechanism is demonstrated for a wide variety of fluorescent probes, including proton, cation and anion targets. Furthermore, this mechanism provides a general picture of the fluorescence quenching which englobes intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT), ratiometric quenching, and those radiationless mechanisms believed to be originated by PET. Finally, this Account provides for the first time a computational protocol to quantitatively estimate this phenomenon and provides the ingredients for the optimal design of fluorescent probes from first principles.

Torsional Dynamics and Intramolecular Charge Transfer in the S2 (1(1)Bu(+)) Excited State of Peridinin: A Mechanism for Enhanced Mid-Visible Light Harvesting

Of the carotenoids known in photosynthetic organisms, peridinin exhibits one of the highest quantum efficiencies for excitation energy transfer to chlorophyll (Chl) a acceptors. The mechanism for this enhanced performance involves an order-of-magnitude slowing of the S2 (1(1)Bu(+)) → S1 (2(1)Ag(-)) nonradiative decay pathway compared to carotenoids lacking carbonyl substitution. Using femtosecond transient grating spectroscopy with optical heterodyne detection, we have obtained the first evidence that the nonradiative decay of the S2 state of peridinin is promoted by large-amplitude torsional motions. The decay of an intermediate state termed Sx, which we assign to a twisted form of the S2 state, is substantially slowed by solvent friction in peridinin due to its intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) character.

A Unified Picture of S* in Carotenoids

In π-conjugated chain molecules such as carotenoids, coupling between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom is of central importance. It governs both dynamic and static properties, such as the time scales of excited state relaxation as well as absorption spectra. In this work, we treat vibronic dynamics in carotenoids on four electronic states (|S0⟩, |S1⟩, |S2⟩, and |Sn⟩) in a physically rigorous framework. This model explains all features previously associated with the intensely debated S* state. Besides successfully fitting transient absorption data of a zeaxanthin homologue, this model also accounts for previous results from global target analysis and chain length-dependent studies. Additionally, we are able to incorporate findings from pump-deplete-probe experiments, which were incompatible to any pre-existing model. Thus, we present the first comprehensive and unified interpretation of S*-related features, explaining them by vibronic transitions on either S1, S0, or both, depending on the chain length of the investigated carotenoid.

Broadband pump-probe spectroscopy at 20-MHz modulation frequency

We introduce an innovative high-sensitivity broadband pump-probe spectroscopy system, based on Fourier-transform detection, operating at 20-MHz modulation frequency. A common-mode interferometer employing birefringent wedges creates two phase-locked delayed replicas of the broadband probe pulse, interfering at a single photodetector. A single-channel lock-in amplifier demodulates the interferogram, whose Fourier transform provides the differential transmission spectrum. Our approach combines broad spectral coverage with high sensitivity, due to high-frequency modulation and detection. We demonstrate its performances by measuring two-dimensional differential transmission maps of a carbon nanotubes sample, simultaneously acquiring the signal over the entire 950-1350 nm range with 2.7·10^-6  rms noise over 1.5 s integration time.

Quenching Capabilities of Long-Chain Carotenoids in Light-Harvesting-2 Complexes from Rhodobacter sphaeroides with an Engineered Carotenoid Synthesis Pathway

Six light-harvesting-2 complexes (LH2) from genetically modified strains of the purple photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter (Rb.) sphaeroides were studied using static and ultrafast optical methods and resonance Raman spectroscopy. These strains were engineered to incorporate carotenoids for which the number of conjugated groups (N = N_C=C + N_C=O) varies from 9 to 15. The Rb. sphaeroides strains incorporate their native carotenoids spheroidene (N = 10) and spheroidenone (N = 11), as well as longer-chain analogues including spirilloxanthin (N = 13) and diketospirilloxantion (N = 15) normally found in Rhodospirillum rubrum. Measurements of the properties of the carotenoid first singlet excited state (S₁) in antennas from the Rb. sphaeroides set show that carotenoid-bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl a) interactions are similar to those in LH2 complexes from various other bacterial species and thus are not significantly impacted by differences in polypeptide composition. Instead, variations in carotenoid-to-BChl a energy transfer are primarily regulated by the N-determined energy of the carotenoid S₁ excited state, which for long-chain (N ≥ 13) carotenoids is not involved in energy transfer. Furthermore, the role of the long-chain carotenoids switches from a light-harvesting supporter (via energy transfer to BChl a) to a quencher of the BChl a S₁ excited state B850*. This quenching is manifested as a substantial (∼2-fold) reduction of the B850* lifetime and the B850* fluorescence quantum yield for LH2 housing the longest carotenoids.

Effects of Molecular Symmetry on the Electronic Transitions in Carotenoids

The aim of this work is the verification of symmetry effects on the electronic absorption spectra of carotenoids. The symmetry breaking in cis-β-carotenes and in carotenoids with nonlinear π-electron system is of virtually no effect on the dark transitions in these pigments, in spite of the loss of the inversion center and evident changes in their electronic structure. In the cis isomers, the S2 state couples with the higher excited states and the extent of this coupling depends on the position of the cis bend. A confrontation of symmetry properties of carotenoids with their electronic absorption and IR and Raman spectra shows that they belong to the C1 or C2 but not the C2h symmetry group, as commonly assumed. In these realistic symmetries all the electronic transitions are symmetry-allowed and the absence of some transitions, such as the dark S0 → S1 transition, must have another physical origin. Most likely it is a severe deformation of the carotenoid molecule in the S1 state, unachievable directly from the ground state, which means that the Franck-Condon factors for a vertical S0 → S1 transition are negligible because the final state is massively displaced along the vibrational coordinates. The implications of our findings have an impact on the understanding of the photophysics and functioning of carotenoids.

Carotenoid-induced non-photochemical quenching in the cyanobacterial chlorophyll synthase-HliC/D complex

Chl synthase (ChlG) is an important enzyme of the Chl biosynthetic pathway catalyzing attachment of phytol/geranylgeraniol tail to the chlorophyllide molecule. Here we have investigated the Flag-tagged ChlG (f.ChlG) in a complex with two different high-light inducible proteins (Hlips) HliD and HliC. The f.ChlG-Hlips complex binds a Chl a and three different carotenoids, β-carotene, zeaxanthin and myxoxanthophyll. Application of ultrafast time-resolved absorption spectroscopy performed at room and cryogenic temperatures revealed excited-state dynamics of complex-bound pigments. After excitation of Chl a in the complex, excited Chl a is efficiently quenched by a nearby carotenoid molecule via energy transfer from the Chl a Qy state to the carotenoid S1 state. The kinetic analysis of the spectroscopic data revealed that quenching occurs with a time constant of ~2ps and its efficiency is temperature independent. Even though due to its long conjugation myxoxanthophyll appears to be energetically best suited for role of Chl a quencher, based on comparative analysis and spectroscopic data we propose that β-carotene bound to Hlips acts as the quencher rather than myxoxanthophyll and zeaxanthin, which are bound at the f.ChlG and Hlips interface. The S1 state lifetime of the quencher has been determined to be 13ps at room temperature and 21ps at 77K. These results demonstrate that Hlips act as a conserved functional module that prevents photodamage of protein complexes during photosystem assembly or Chl biosynthesis.

Controlling S2 Population in Cyanine Dyes Using Shaped Femtosecond Pulses

Fast population transfer from higher to lower excited states occurs via internal conversion (IC) and is the basis of Kasha's rule, which states that spontaneous emission takes place from the lowest excited state of the same multiplicity. Photonic control over IC is of interest because it would allow direct influence over intramolecular nonradiative decay processes occurring in condensed phase. Here we tracked the S2 and S1 fluorescence yield for different cyanine dyes in solution as a function of linear chirp. For the cyanine dyes with polar solvation response IR144 and meso-piperidine substituted IR806, increased S2 emission was observed when using transform limited pulses, whereas chirped pulses led to increased S1 emission. The nonpolar solvated cyanine IR806, on the other hand, did not show S2 emission. A theoretical model, based on a nonperturbative solution of the equation of motion for the density matrix, is offered to explain and simulate the anomalous chirp dependence. Our findings, which depend on pulse properties beyond peak intensity, offer a photonic method to control S2 population thereby opening the door for the exploration of photochemical processes initiated from higher excited states.

Ultra-broadband 2D electronic spectroscopy of carotenoid-bacteriochlorophyll interactions in the LH1 complex of a purple bacterium

We investigate the excitation energy transfer (EET) pathways in the photosynthetic light harvesting 1 (LH1) complex of purple bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum with ultra-broadband two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES). We employ a 2DES apparatus in the partially collinear geometry, using a passive birefringent interferometer to generate the phase-locked pump pulse pair. This scheme easily lends itself to two-color operation, by coupling a sub-10 fs visible pulse with a sub-15-fs near-infrared pulse. This unique pulse combination allows us to simultaneously track with extremely high temporal resolution both the dynamics of the photoexcited carotenoid spirilloxanthin (Spx) in the visible range and the EET between the Spx and the B890 bacterio-chlorophyll (BChl), whose Qx and Qy transitions peak at 585 and 881 nm, respectively, in the near-infrared. Global analysis of the one-color and two-color 2DES maps unravels different relaxation mechanisms in the LH1 complex: (i) the initial events of the internal conversion process within the Spx, (ii) the parallel EET from the first bright state S2 of the Spx towards the Qx state of the B890, and (iii) the internal conversion from Qx to Qy within the B890.

Vibronic coupling explains the ultrafast carotenoid-to-bacteriochlorophyll energy transfer in natural and artificial light harvesters

The initial energy transfer steps in photosynthesis occur on ultrafast timescales. We analyze the carotenoid to bacteriochlorophyll energy transfer in LH2 Marichromatium purpuratum as well as in an artificial light-harvesting dyad system by using transient grating and two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy with 10 fs time resolution. We find that Förster-type models reproduce the experimentally observed 60 fs transfer times, but overestimate coupling constants, which lead to a disagreement with both linear absorption and electronic 2D-spectra. We show that a vibronic model, which treats carotenoid vibrations on both electronic ground and excited states as part of the system's Hamiltonian, reproduces all measured quantities. Importantly, the vibronic model presented here can explain the fast energy transfer rates with only moderate coupling constants, which are in agreement with structure based calculations. Counterintuitively, the vibrational levels on the carotenoid electronic ground state play the central role in the excited state population transfer to bacteriochlorophyll; resonance between the donor-acceptor energy gap and the vibrational ground state energies is the physical basis of the ultrafast energy transfer rates in these systems.

Photoprotection Mechanism of Light-Harvesting Antenna Complex from Purple Bacteria

Photosynthetic light-harvesting apparatus efficiently capture sunlight and transfer the energy to reaction centers, while they safely dissipate excess energy to surrounding environments for a protection of their organisms. In this study, we performed pump-probe spectroscopic measurements with a temporal window ranging from femtosecond to submillisecond on the purple bacterial antenna complex LH2 from Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1 to clarify its photoprotection functions. The observed excited state dynamics in the time range from subnanosecond to microsecond exhibits that the triplet-triplet excitation energy transfer from bacteriochlorophyll a to carotenoid takes place with a time constant of 16.7 ns. Furthermore, ultrafast spectroscopic data suggests that a molecular assembly of bacteriochlorophyll a in LH2 efficiently suppresses a generation of triple bacteriochlorophyll a.

Capsular polysaccharides facilitate enhanced iron acquisition by the colonial cyanobacterium Microcystis sp. isolated from a freshwater lake

Microcystis sp., especially in its colonial form, is a common dominant species during cyanobacterial blooms in many iron-deficient water bodies. It is still not entirely clear, however, how the colonial forms of Microcystis acclimate to iron-deficient habitats, and the responses of unicellular and colonial forms to iron-replete and iron-deficient conditions were examined here. Growth rates and levels of photosynthetic pigments declined to a greater extent in cultures of unicellular Microcystis than in cultures of the colonial form in response to decreasing iron concentrations, resulting in the impaired photosynthetic performance of unicellular Microcystis as compared to colonial forms as measured by variable fluorescence and photosynthetic oxygen evolution. These results indicate that the light-harvesting ability and photosynthetic capacity of colonial Microcystis was less affected by iron deficiency than the unicellular form. The carotenoid contents and nonphotochemical quenching of colonial Microcystis were less reduced than those of the unicellular form under decreasing iron concentrations, indicating that the colonial morphology enhanced photoprotection and acclimation to iron-deficient conditions. Furthermore, large amounts of iron were detected in the capsular polysaccharides (CPS) of the colonies, and more iron was found to be attached to the colonial Microcystis CPS under decreasing iron conditions as compared to unicellular cultures. These results demonstrated that colonial Microcystis can acclimate to iron deficiencies better than the unicellular form, and that CPS plays an important role in their acclimation advantage in iron-deficient waters.

Photoinduced Electron Transfer between Anionic Corrole and DNA

The interaction between a water-soluble anionic Ga(III) corrole [Ga(tpfc)(SO3Na)2] and calf thymus DNA (ct-DNA) has been investigated by using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. A significant broadening from 570 to 585 nm of positive absorption band of the blend of Ga(tpfc)(SO3Na)2 and ct-DNA (Ga(tpfc)(SO3Na)2-ctDNA) has been observed from 0.15 to 0.50 ps after photoexcitation of Ga(tpfc)(SO3Na)2 into the Soret band. The control experiment has been performed on the model DNA ([poly(dG-dC)]2) rich in guanine bases, which exhibits a similar spectral broadening, whereas it is absent for [poly(dA-dT)]2 without guanine bases. The molecular orbital calculation shows that HOMO of Ga(tpfc)(SO3Na)2 is lower than that of guanine bases. The results of the electrochemical experiment show the reversible electron transfer (ET) between Ga(tpfc)(SO3Na)2 and guanine bases of ct-DNA is thermodynamically favorable. The dynamical analysis of the transient absorption spectra reveals that an ultrafast forward ET from the guanine bases to Ga(tpfc)(SO3Na)2 occurs within the pulse duration (156 fs), leading to the formation of an intermediate state. The following back ET to the ground state of Ga(tpfc)(SO3Na)2 may be accomplished in 520 fs.

Photoprotection and triplet energy transfer in higher plants: the role of electronic and nuclear fluctuations

Photosynthetic organisms employ several photoprotection strategies to avoid damage due to the excess energy in high light conditions.

Vibronic coupling in the excited-states of carotenoids

The ultrafast femtochemistry of carotenoids is governed by the interaction between electronic excited states, which has been explained by the relaxation dynamics within a few hundred femtoseconds from the lowest optically allowed excited state S₂to the optically dark state S₁.

Spectral watermarking in femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy: resolving the nature of the carotenoid S* state

A new method for recording femtosecond stimulated Raman spectra was developed that dramatically improves and automatizes baseline problems.

Carotenoids and Photosynthesis

Carotenoids are ubiquitous and essential pigments in photosynthesis. They absorb in the blue-green region of the solar spectrum and transfer the absorbed energy to (bacterio-)chlorophylls, and so expand the wavelength range of light that is able to drive photosynthesis. This is an example of singlet-singlet energy transfer, and so carotenoids serve to enhance the overall efficiency of photosynthetic light reactions. Carotenoids also act to protect photosynthetic organisms from the harmful effects of excess exposure to light. Triplet-triplet energy transfer from chlorophylls to carotenoids plays a key role in this photoprotective reaction. In the light-harvesting pigment-protein complexes from purple photosynthetic bacteria and chlorophytes, carotenoids have an additional role of structural stabilization of those complexes. In this article we review what is currently known about how carotenoids discharge these functions. The molecular architecture of photosynthetic systems will be outlined first to provide a basis from which to describe carotenoid photochemistry, which underlies most of their important functions in photosynthesis.