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Kabir M, Ghosh P, Gozem S. Electronic Structure Methods for Simulating Flavin's Spectroscopy and Photophysics: Comparison of Multi-reference, TD-DFT, and Single-Reference Wave Function Methods. J Phys Chem B 2024; 128:7545-7557. [PMID: 39074870 PMCID: PMC11317985 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c03748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2024] [Revised: 07/14/2024] [Accepted: 07/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/31/2024]
Abstract
The use of flavins and flavoproteins in photocatalytic, sensing, and biotechnological applications has led to a growing interest in computationally modeling the excited-state electronic structure and photophysics of flavin. However, there is limited consensus regarding which computational methods are appropriate for modeling flavin's photophysics. We compare the energies of low-lying excited states of flavin computed with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT), equation-of-motion coupled cluster (EOM-EE-CCSD), scaled opposite-spin configuration interaction [SOS-CIS(D)], multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT), and several multireference perturbation theory (MR-PT2) methods. In the first part, we focus on excitation energies of the first singlet excited state (S1) of five different redox and protonation states of flavin, with the goal of finding a suitable active space for MR-PT2 calculations. In the second part, we construct two sets of one-dimensional potential energy surfaces connecting the S0 and S1 equilibrium geometries (S0-S1 path) and the S1 (π,π*) and S2 (n,π*) equilibrium geometries (S1-S2 path). The first path therefore follows a Franck-Condon active mode of flavin while the second path maps crossings points between low-lying singlet and triplet states in flavin. We discuss the similarities and differences in the TD-DFT, EOM-EE-CCSD, SOS-CIS(D), MC-PDFT and MR-PT2 energy profiles along these paths. We find that (TD-)DFT methods are suitable for applications such as simulating the spectra of flavins but are inconsistent with several other methods when used for some geometry optimizations and when describing the energetics of dark (n,π*) states. MR-PT2 methods show promise for the simulation of flavin's low-lying excited states, but the selection of orbitals for the active space and the number of roots used for state averaging must be done carefully to avoid artifacts. Some properties, such as the intersystem crossing geometry and energy between the S1 (π,π*) and T2 (n,π*) states, may require additional benchmarking before they can be determined quantitatively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad
Pabel Kabir
- Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30302, United States
| | - Paulami Ghosh
- Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30302, United States
| | - Samer Gozem
- Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30302, United States
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2
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Wörner S, Rauthe P, Werner J, Afonin S, Ulrich AS, Unterreiner AN, Wagenknecht HA. Flavin-induced charge separation in transmembrane model peptides. Org Biomol Chem 2024; 22:5930-5935. [PMID: 38973494 DOI: 10.1039/d4ob00932k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/09/2024]
Abstract
Hydrophobic peptide models derived from the α-helical transmembrane segment of the epidermal growth factor receptor were synthetically modified with a flavin amino acid as a photo-inducible charge donor and decorated with tryptophans along the helix as charge acceptors. The helical conformation of the peptides was conserved despite the modifications, notably also in lipid vesicles and multibilayers. Their ability to facilitate photo-induced transmembrane charge transport was examined by means of steady-state and time-resolved optical spectroscopy. The first tryptophan next to the flavin donor plays a major role in initiating the charge transport near the N-terminus, while the other tryptophans might promote charge transport along the transmembrane helix. These artificially modified, but still naturally derived helical peptides are important models for studying transmembrane electron transfer and the principles of photosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha Wörner
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Organic Chemistry, Fritz-Haber-Weg 6, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
| | - Pascal Rauthe
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Fritz-Haber-Weg 2, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Johannes Werner
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Fritz-Haber-Weg 2, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Sergii Afonin
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Biological Interfaces (IBG2), POB 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Anne S Ulrich
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Organic Chemistry, Fritz-Haber-Weg 6, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Biological Interfaces (IBG2), POB 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Andreas-Neil Unterreiner
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Fritz-Haber-Weg 2, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Hans-Achim Wagenknecht
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Organic Chemistry, Fritz-Haber-Weg 6, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
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3
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Guo H, Liu S, Liu X, Zhang L. Lightening flavin by amination for fluorescent sensing. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:19554-19563. [PMID: 38979978 DOI: 10.1039/d4cp01525h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/10/2024]
Abstract
Monitoring of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as O2˙-, etc., in organisms is of great significance, not only for their essential role in biological processes, but their excessive production may also result in many diseases. Flavin (FL) is a fluorophore that naturally exists in flavoenzymes, and its fluorescent emission (FE) becomes negligible when reduced. This enables the application of FL derivatives as fluorescent sensors for ROS. We presented a theoretical investigation to address the impact of amino substitution on the photophysical properties of aminoflavins (AmFLs). Resulting from the interplay of electronic and positional effects, amination at C8 enhances the electronic coupling between the ground state and the first singlet excited state by enlarging the adiabatic energy change of the electronic transitions and the emission transition dipole moments, weakens the vibronic coupling by decreasing the contribution of isoalloxazine to the frontier molecular orbitals, redshifts the absorption band, and enhances the fluorescent emission drastically in 8AmFL. The theoretically estimated fluorescent emission intensity of 8AmFL is ∼40 times that of FL, suggesting its potential application as a fluorescent sensor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huimin Guo
- School of Chemistry, Dalian University of Technology, No. 2, Linggong Road, Dalian, 116024, P. R. China.
| | - Siyu Liu
- School of Chemistry, Dalian University of Technology, No. 2, Linggong Road, Dalian, 116024, P. R. China.
| | - Xin Liu
- School of Chemistry, Dalian University of Technology, No. 2, Linggong Road, Dalian, 116024, P. R. China.
| | - Lijun Zhang
- Department of Ophthalmology, The Third People's Hospital of Dalian and Faculty of Medicine, Dalian University of Technology, No. 2, Linggong Road, Dalian, 116024, P. R. China
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Wang J, Liu Y. Systematic Theoretical Study on the pH-Dependent Absorption and Fluorescence Spectra of Flavins. Molecules 2023; 28:molecules28083315. [PMID: 37110549 PMCID: PMC10146991 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28083315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2023] [Revised: 03/29/2023] [Accepted: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Flavins are a class of organic compounds with the basic structure of 7,8-dimethy-10-alkyl isoalloxazine. They are ubiquitous in nature and participate in many biochemical reactions. Due to various existing forms, there is a lack of systematic research on the absorption and fluorescence spectra of flavins. In this study, employing the density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent (TD) DFT, we calculated the pH-dependent absorption and fluorescence spectra of flavin of three redox states (quinone, semiquinone, and hydroquinone) in solvents. The chemical equilibrium of three redox states of flavins and the pH effect on the absorption spectra and fluorescence spectra of flavins were carefully discussed. The conclusion helps with identifying the existing forms of flavins in solvent with different pH values.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinyu Wang
- Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yajun Liu
- Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- Center for Advanced Materials Research, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai 519087, China
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5
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Wu R, Yang C, Wang L, Zhong D. Ultrafast Dynamics of Fatty Acid Photodecarboxylase in Anionic Semiquinone State. J Phys Chem Lett 2022; 13:11023-11028. [PMID: 36413431 PMCID: PMC9747331 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c02183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Fatty acid photodecarboxylase is a newly identified blue-light driven photoenzyme that catalyzes decarboxylation of fatty acids. The catalytic reaction involves a transient anionic semiquinone of flavin cofactor (FAD•-) as an intermediate, but photochemical properties of this anionic radical are largely unknown. Here, we have anaerobically produced the wild-type FAP in the FAD•- state and conducted femtosecond-resolved fluorescence and absorption measurements. We have observed the multiphasic deactivation dynamics of excited states on multiple time scales from a few picoseconds even to a few nanoseconds through conical intersections between various electronic states. Interestingly, the nanosecond components can only be observed from higher electronic excited states. Our results show the complexity of the energy landscapes of various excited states and rule out the occurrence of electron or proton transfer with nearby residue(s) in the active site.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Dongping Zhong
- Corresponding Author : Dongping Zhong − Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Programs of Biophysics, Chemical Physics, and Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio, 43210, USA;
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6
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Understanding flavin electronic structure and spectra. WIRES COMPUTATIONAL MOLECULAR SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/wcms.1541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
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Dozova N, Lacombat F, Lombard M, Hamdane D, Plaza P. Ultrafast dynamics of fully reduced flavin in catalytic structures of thymidylate synthase ThyX. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:22692-22702. [PMID: 34605505 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp03379d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Thymidylate is a vital DNA precursor synthesized by thymidylate synthases. ThyX is a flavin-dependent thymidylate synthase found in several human pathogens and absent in humans, which makes it a potential target for antimicrobial drugs. This enzyme methylates the 2'-deoxyuridine 5'-monophosphate (dUMP) to 2'-deoxythymidine 5'-monophosphate (dTMP) using a reduced flavin adenine dinucleotide (FADH-) as prosthetic group and (6R)-N5,N10-methylene-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofolate (CH2THF) as a methylene donor. Recently, it was shown that ThyX-catalyzed reaction is a complex process wherein FADH- promotes both methylene transfer and reduction of the transferred methylene into a methyl group. Here, we studied the dynamic and photophysics of FADH- bound to ThyX, in several substrate-binding states (no substrate, in the presence of dUMP or folate or both) by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. This methodology provides valuable information about the ground-state configuration of the isoalloxazine moiety of FADH- and the rigidity of its local environment, through spectra shape and excited-state lifetime parameters. In the absence of substrate, the environment of FADH- in ThyX is only mildly more constrained than that of free FADH- in solution. The addition of dUMP however narrows the distribution of ground-state configurations and increases the constraints on the butterfly bending motion in the excited state. Folate binding results in the selection of new ground-state configurations, presumably located at a greater distance from the conical intersection where excited-state decay occurs. When both substrates are present, the ground-state configuration appears on the contrary rather limited to a geometry close to the conical intersection, which explains the relatively fast excited-state decay (100 ps on the average), even if the environment of the isoalloxazine is densely packed. Hence, although the environment of the flavin is dramatically constrained, FADH- retains a dynamic necessary to shuttle carbon from folate to dUMP. Our study demonstrates the high sensitivity of FADH- photophysics to the constraints exerted by its immediate surroundings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadia Dozova
- PASTEUR, Département de chimie, École normale supérieure, PSL University, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Fabien Lacombat
- PASTEUR, Département de chimie, École normale supérieure, PSL University, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Murielle Lombard
- Laboratoire de Chimie des Processus Biologiques, CNRS-UMR 8229, Collège de France, Sorbonne Université, 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Djemel Hamdane
- Laboratoire de Chimie des Processus Biologiques, CNRS-UMR 8229, Collège de France, Sorbonne Université, 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Pascal Plaza
- PASTEUR, Département de chimie, École normale supérieure, PSL University, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France.
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8
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Hong P, Ning LC, Wu AA, Tan K, Lu X. Insights into the mechanism of fatty acid photodecarboxylase: A theoretical investigation. Chem Phys Lett 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cplett.2021.138550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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9
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De Sio A, Sommer E, Nguyen XT, Groß L, Popović D, Nebgen BT, Fernandez-Alberti S, Pittalis S, Rozzi CA, Molinari E, Mena-Osteritz E, Bäuerle P, Frauenheim T, Tretiak S, Lienau C. Intermolecular conical intersections in molecular aggregates. NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY 2021; 16:63-68. [PMID: 33199882 DOI: 10.1038/s41565-020-00791-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Conical intersections (CoIns) of multidimensional potential energy surfaces are ubiquitous in nature and control pathways and yields of many photo-initiated intramolecular processes. Such topologies can be potentially involved in the energy transport in aggregated molecules or polymers but are yet to be uncovered. Here, using ultrafast two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES), we reveal the existence of intermolecular CoIns in molecular aggregates relevant for photovoltaics. Ultrafast, sub-10-fs 2DES tracks the coherent motion of a vibrational wave packet on an optically bright state and its abrupt transition into a dark state via a CoIn after only 40 fs. Non-adiabatic dynamics simulations identify an intermolecular CoIn as the source of these unusual dynamics. Our results indicate that intermolecular CoIns may effectively steer energy pathways in functional nanostructures for optoelectronics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonietta De Sio
- Institut für Physik and Center of Interface Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, Oldenburg, Germany.
| | - Ephraim Sommer
- Institut für Physik and Center of Interface Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Xuan Trung Nguyen
- Institut für Physik and Center of Interface Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Lynn Groß
- Bremen Center for Computational Materials Science, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Duško Popović
- Institut für Organische Chemie II und Neue Materialien, Universität Ulm, Ulm, Germany
| | | | - Sebastian Fernandez-Alberti
- National University of Quilmes/CONICET, Department of Science and Technology, Bernal (B1876BXD), Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
| | | | | | - Elisa Molinari
- Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR, Modena, Italy
- Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Informatiche e Matematiche, Modena, Italy
| | - Elena Mena-Osteritz
- Institut für Organische Chemie II und Neue Materialien, Universität Ulm, Ulm, Germany
| | - Peter Bäuerle
- Institut für Organische Chemie II und Neue Materialien, Universität Ulm, Ulm, Germany
| | - Thomas Frauenheim
- Bremen Center for Computational Materials Science, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
- Computational Science Research Center, Beijing and Computational Science and Applied Research Institute Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China
| | - Sergei Tretiak
- Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
| | - Christoph Lienau
- Institut für Physik and Center of Interface Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, Oldenburg, Germany
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10
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Wörner S, Leier J, Michenfelder NC, Unterreiner A, Wagenknecht H. Directed Electron Transfer in Flavin Peptides with Oligoproline-Type Helical Conformation as Models for Flavin-Functional Proteins. ChemistryOpen 2020; 9:1264-1269. [PMID: 33318882 PMCID: PMC7729625 DOI: 10.1002/open.202000199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2020] [Revised: 10/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
To mimic the charge separation in functional proteins we studied flavin-modified peptides as models. They were synthesized as oligoprolines that typically form a polyproline type-II helix, because this secondary structure supports the electron transfer properties. We placed the flavin as photoexcitable chromophore and electron acceptor at the N-terminus. Tryptophans were placed as electron donors to direct the electron transfer over 0-3 intervening prolines. Spectroscopic studies revealed competitive photophysical pathways. The reference peptide without tryptophan shows dominant non-specific ET dynamics, leading to an ion pair formation, whereas peptides with tryptophans have weak non-specific ET and intensified directed electron transfer. By different excitation wavelengths, we can conclude that the corresponding ion pair state of flavin within the peptide environment has to be energetically located between the S1 and S4 states, whereas the directed electron transfer to tryptophan occurs directly from the S1 state. These photochemical results have fundamental significance for proteins with flavin as redoxactive cofactor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha Wörner
- Institute of Organic ChemistryKarlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)Fritz-Haber-Weg 676131KarlsruheGermany
| | - Julia Leier
- Institute of Physical ChemistryKarlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)Fritz-Haber-Weg 276131KarlsruheGermany
| | - Nadine C. Michenfelder
- Institute of Physical ChemistryKarlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)Fritz-Haber-Weg 276131KarlsruheGermany
| | - Andreas‐Neil Unterreiner
- Institute of Physical ChemistryKarlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)Fritz-Haber-Weg 276131KarlsruheGermany
| | - Hans‐Achim Wagenknecht
- Institute of Organic ChemistryKarlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)Fritz-Haber-Weg 676131KarlsruheGermany
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11
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Schwinn K, Ferré N, Huix-Rotllant M. UV-visible absorption spectrum of FAD and its reduced forms embedded in a cryptochrome protein. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2020; 22:12447-12455. [PMID: 32458897 DOI: 10.1039/d0cp01714k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Cryptochromes are a class of flavoproteins proposed as candidates to explain magnetoreception of animals, plants and bacteria. The main hypothesis is that a biradical is formed upon blue-light absorption by flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). In a protein milieu, the oxidized form of FAD can be reduced, leading to four redox derivative forms: anionic and neutral semi-reduced radicals, and anionic and neutral fully reduced forms. All these forms have a characteristic electronic absorption spectrum, with a strong vibrational resolution. Here, we carried out a normal mode analysis at the electrostatic embedding QM/MM level of theory to compute the vibrationally resolved absorption spectra of the five redox forms of FAD embedded in a plant cryptochrome. We show that explicitly accounting for vibrational broadening contributions to electronic transitions is essential to reproduce the experimental spectra. In the case of the neutral radical form of FAD, the absorption spectrum is reproduced only if the presence of a tryptophan radical is considered.
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12
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Etz BD, DuClos JM, Vyas S. Investigating the Photochemistry of C7 and C8 Functionalized N(5)-Ethyl-flavinium Cation: A Computational Study. J Phys Chem A 2020; 124:4193-4201. [PMID: 32337990 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.0c01938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Flavins are a diverse set of compounds with a wide variety of biological and nonbiological applications. Applications of flavins receiving attention recently consist of electro- and photocatalytic oxidation of substrates for organic synthesis, bioengineered nanotechnology, and water splitting catalysts, among others. While there is vast knowledge regarding the structure-property relationships of flavins and their electrochemistry, there is much less work elucidating the structure property relationships as they pertain to flavinium photochemistry. Herein, we report the effect of molecular tailoring on the molecular properties of N(5)-ethyl-flavinium cation (Et-Fl+), a derivative of the biocatalytic coenzyme riboflavin, by incorporating electron withdrawing and donating groups at the C7 and C8 position of the isoalloxazine ring. The presence of electron withdrawing groups at the C8 position caused a red shift in the absorption spectrum, while the electron donating groups caused a blue shift. Functionalization at the C7 position had the opposite effect on the absorption spectrum. The effects of single substitution were relatively negated with simultaneous functionalization at both the C8 and C7 positions. Difference density plots indicate no change in the nature of the S1 excited state, which was confirmed by optimization of the excited state geometries. The results presented in this study indicate that functionalization of the isoalloxazine unit affects the photophysical properties of N(5)-ethyl-flavinium cations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian D Etz
- Department of Chemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
| | - Julie M DuClos
- Department of Chemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
| | - Shubham Vyas
- Department of Chemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
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13
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Su D, Kabir MP, Orozco-Gonzalez Y, Gozem S, Gadda G. Fluorescence Properties of Flavin Semiquinone Radicals in Nitronate Monooxygenase. Chembiochem 2019; 20:1646-1652. [PMID: 30748074 DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201900016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Fluorescent cofactors like flavins can be exploited to probe their local environment with spatial and temporal resolution. Although the fluorescence properties of the oxidized and two-electron-reduced states of flavins have been studied extensively, this is not the case for the one-electron-reduced state. Both the neutral and anionic semiquinones have proven particularly challenging to examine, as they are unstable in solution and are transient, short-lived species in many catalytic cycles. Here, we report that the nitronate monooxygenase (NMO) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 is capable of stabilizing both semiquinone forms anaerobically for hours, thus enabling us to study their spectroscopy in a constant protein environment. We found that in the active site of NMO, the anionic semiquinone exhibits no fluorescence, whereas the neutral semiquinone radical shows a relatively strong fluorescence, with a behavior that violates the Kasha-Vavilov rule. These fluorescence properties are discussed in the context of time-dependent density functional theory calculations, which reveal low-lying dark states in both systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Su
- Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University, 50 Decatur St. SE, Atlanta, GA, 30302, USA
| | - Mohammad Pabel Kabir
- Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University, 50 Decatur St. SE, Atlanta, GA, 30302, USA
| | - Yoelvis Orozco-Gonzalez
- Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University, 50 Decatur St. SE, Atlanta, GA, 30302, USA
| | - Samer Gozem
- Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University, 50 Decatur St. SE, Atlanta, GA, 30302, USA
| | - Giovanni Gadda
- Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University, 50 Decatur St. SE, Atlanta, GA, 30302, USA.,Department of Biology, Georgia State University, 100 Piedmond Ave., Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA.,Center for Diagnostics and Therapeutics, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 5090, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA.,Center for Biotechnology and Drug Design, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 30302, USA
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14
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Kabir MP, Orozco-Gonzalez Y, Gozem S. Electronic spectra of flavin in different redox and protonation states: a computational perspective on the effect of the electrostatic environment. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2019; 21:16526-16537. [DOI: 10.1039/c9cp02230a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
This study discusses how UV/vis absorption spectra of flavin in different redox and protonation states are shifted by the nearby electrostatic microenvironment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Samer Gozem
- Department of Chemistry
- Georgia State University
- Atlanta
- USA
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