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Herrera Rodríguez LE, Sindhu A, Rueda Espinosa KJ, Kananenka AA. Cavity-Mediated Enhancement of the Energy Transfer in the Reduced Fenna-Matthews-Olson Complex. J Chem Theory Comput 2024; 20:7393-7403. [PMID: 39190922 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.4c00626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/29/2024]
Abstract
Strong light-matter interaction leads to the formation of hybrid polariton states and can alter the light-harvesting properties of natural photosynthetic systems without modifying their chemical structure. In the present study, we computationally investigate the effect of the resonant cavity on the efficiency and the rate of the population transfer in a quantum system coupled to the cavity and the dissipative environment. The parameters of the model system were chosen to represent the Fenna-Matthews-Olson natural light-harvesting complex reduced to the three essential sites. The dynamics of the total system was propagated using the hierarchical equations of motion. Our results show that the strong light-matter interaction can accelerate the population transfer process compared to the cavity-free case but at the cost of lowering the transfer efficiency. The transition to the strong coupling regime was found to coincide with the degeneracy of polariton eigenvalues. Our findings indicate the potential and the limit of tuning the energy transfer in already efficient natural light-harvesting systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis E Herrera Rodríguez
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
| | - Aarti Sindhu
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
| | - Kennet J Rueda Espinosa
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
| | - Alexei A Kananenka
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
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Li J, Zeng T, Qu Z, Zhai Y, Li H. Energy transfer from two luteins to chlorophylls in light-harvesting complex II study by using exciton models with phase correction. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:1023-1029. [PMID: 38093671 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp05278h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2024]
Abstract
In light-harvesting complex II of plants, the two lutein pigments (LUT1 and LUT2) are always paired and an energy transfer pathway between them is believed to exist. However, it remains unclear whether this pathway is essential for the energy transfer between carotenoids and chlorophylls. In this work, we performed hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations with Frenkel exciton models to investigate this energy transfer. The results show that the energy transfer pathways between the S2 state of LUT1 and CLAs are not affected by LUT2 S2. The energy transfer between LUT and chlorophyll-a (CLA) also follows a resonance mechanism. The two LUTs have different energy transfer pathways according to their energy gaps and coupling strengths with each CLA. The present work sheds light on the energy transfer pathways involved in the two LUTs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiarui Li
- Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2519 Jiefang Road, Changchun, 130023, China.
| | - Tao Zeng
- Department of Chemistry, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Zexing Qu
- Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2519 Jiefang Road, Changchun, 130023, China.
| | - Yu Zhai
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
| | - Hui Li
- Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2519 Jiefang Road, Changchun, 130023, China.
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Li J, Zeng T, Zhai Y, Qu Z, Li H. Intermolecular resonance energy transfer between two lutein pigments in light-harvesting complex II studied by frenkel exciton models. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:24636-24642. [PMID: 37665609 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp03092j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
The energy transfer pathways in light-harvesting complex II are complicated and the discovery of the energy transfer between the two luteins revealed an unelucidated important role of carotenoids in the energy flow. This energy transfer between the two S2 states of luteins was for the first time investigated using Frenkel exciton models, using a hybrid scheme of molecular mechanics and quantum mechanics. The results show the energy flow between the two luteins under the Förster resonance energy transfer mechanism. The energy transfer caused by energy level resonance occurs in configurations with small energy gaps. This energy transfer pathway is particularly sensitive to conformation. Moreover, according to the statistical characteristics of the data of the energy gaps and coupling values between LUTs, we proposed stochastic exciton Hamiltonian models to facilitate clarification of the energy transfer among pigments in antenna complexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiarui Li
- Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2519 Jiefang Road, Changchun, 130023, China.
| | - Tao Zeng
- Department of Chemistry, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Yu Zhai
- Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2519 Jiefang Road, Changchun, 130023, China.
| | - Zexing Qu
- Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2519 Jiefang Road, Changchun, 130023, China.
| | - Hui Li
- Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2519 Jiefang Road, Changchun, 130023, China.
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Exciton quantum dynamics in the molecular logic gates for quantum computing. Chem Phys 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chemphys.2023.111860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
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Sindhu A, Jain A. Coherence and Efficient Energy Transfer in Molecular Wires: Insights from Surface Hopping Simulations. Chemphyschem 2022; 23:e202200392. [PMID: 35944188 DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202200392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the dynamics of electronic energy transfer through a molecular wire is essential to understand the working of natural processes like photosynthesis. We investigate simpler 2 and 3-site model Hamiltonians in this work to understand the importance of coherence to efficient energy transfer. We compare the results of surface hopping simulation with that of numerically exact results and rate theories. Different parameters are analyzed, motivated by a photosynthetic molecular wire - the FMO complex. A comparison of results from different theories shows that coherence can play an important role towards efficient energy transfer for certain parameters. When these coherences are important, even small couplings (of the order of 5 cm-1 ) in the Hamiltonian can significantly affect rates. Surface hopping simulations capture all the results correctly qualitatively. Rate theories, on the other hand, can differ significantly from numerically exact results when coherences become important. The results of this work should provide design guidelines for efficient energy transfer in molecular wires.
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Hu Z, Liu Z, Sun X. Effects of Heterogeneous Protein Environment on Excitation Energy Transfer Dynamics in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson Complex. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:9271-9287. [PMID: 36327977 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c06605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex of green sulfur bacteria has been serving as a prototypical light-harvesting protein for studying excitation energy transfer (EET) dynamics in photosynthesis. The most widely used Frenkel exciton model for FMO complex assumes that each excited bacteriochlorophyll site couples to an identical and isolated harmonic bath, which does not account for the heterogeneous local protein environment. To better describe the realistic environment, we propose to use the recently developed multistate harmonic (MSH) model, which contains a globally shared bath that couples to the different pigment sites according to the atomistic quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations with explicit protein scaffold and solvent. In this work, the effects of heterogeneous protein environment on EET in FMO complexes from Prosthecochloris aestuarii and Chlorobium tepidum, specifically including realistic spectral density, site-dependent reorganization energies, and system-bath couplings are investigated. Semiclassical and mixed quantum-classical mapping dynamics were applied to obtain the nonadiabatic EET dynamics in several models ranging from the Frenkel exciton model to the MSH model and their variants. The MSH model with realistic spectral density and site-dependent system-bath couplings displays slower EET dynamics than the Frenkel exciton model. Our comparative study shows that larger average reorganization energy, heterogeneity in spectral densities, and low-frequency modes could facilitate energy dissipation, which is insensitive to the static disorder in reorganization energies. The effects of the spectral densities and system-bath couplings along with the MSH model can be used to optimize EET dynamics for artificial light-harvesting systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhubin Hu
- Division of Arts and Sciences, NYU Shanghai, 1555 Century Avenue, Shanghai 200122, China.,NYU-ECNU Center for Computational Chemistry at NYU Shanghai, 3663 Zhongshan Road North, Shanghai 200062, China.,State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Zengkui Liu
- Division of Arts and Sciences, NYU Shanghai, 1555 Century Avenue, Shanghai 200122, China.,NYU-ECNU Center for Computational Chemistry at NYU Shanghai, 3663 Zhongshan Road North, Shanghai 200062, China.,Department of Chemistry, New York University, New York, New York 10003, United States
| | - Xiang Sun
- Division of Arts and Sciences, NYU Shanghai, 1555 Century Avenue, Shanghai 200122, China.,NYU-ECNU Center for Computational Chemistry at NYU Shanghai, 3663 Zhongshan Road North, Shanghai 200062, China.,State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.,Department of Chemistry, New York University, New York, New York 10003, United States
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Dimitriev OP. Dynamics of Excitons in Conjugated Molecules and Organic Semiconductor Systems. Chem Rev 2022; 122:8487-8593. [PMID: 35298145 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
The exciton, an excited electron-hole pair bound by Coulomb attraction, plays a key role in photophysics of organic molecules and drives practically important phenomena such as photoinduced mechanical motions of a molecule, photochemical conversions, energy transfer, generation of free charge carriers, etc. Its behavior in extended π-conjugated molecules and disordered organic films is very different and very rich compared with exciton behavior in inorganic semiconductor crystals. Due to the high degree of variability of organic systems themselves, the exciton not only exerts changes on molecules that carry it but undergoes its own changes during all phases of its lifetime, that is, birth, conversion and transport, and decay. The goal of this review is to give a systematic and comprehensive view on exciton behavior in π-conjugated molecules and molecular assemblies at all phases of exciton evolution with emphasis on rates typical for this dynamic picture and various consequences of the above dynamics. To uncover the rich variety of exciton behavior, details of exciton formation, exciton transport, exciton energy conversion, direct and reverse intersystem crossing, and radiative and nonradiative decay are considered in different systems, where these processes lead to or are influenced by static and dynamic disorder, charge distribution symmetry breaking, photoinduced reactions, electron and proton transfer, structural rearrangements, exciton coupling with vibrations and intermediate particles, and exciton dissociation and annihilation as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oleg P Dimitriev
- V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics NAS of Ukraine, pr. Nauki 41, Kyiv 03028, Ukraine
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Cho KH, Rhee YM. Computational elucidations on the role of vibrations in energy transfer processes of photosynthetic complexes. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:26623-26639. [PMID: 34842245 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp04615b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Coupling between pigment excitations and nuclear movements in photosynthetic complexes is known to modulate the excitation energy transfer (EET) efficiencies. Toward providing microscopic information, researchers often apply simulation techniques and investigate how vibrations are involved in EET processes. Here, reports on such roles of nuclear movements are discussed from a theory perspective. While vibrations naturally present random thermal fluctuations that can affect energy transferring characteristics, they can also be intertwined with exciton structures and create more specific non-adiabatic energy transfer pathways. For reliable simulations, a bath model that accurately mimics a given molecular system is required. Methods for obtaining such a model in combination with quantum chemical electronic structure calculations and molecular dynamics trajectory simulations are discussed. Various quantum dynamics simulation tools that can handle pigment-to-pigment energy transfers together with their vibrational characters are also touched on. Behaviors of molecular vibrations often deviate from ideality, especially when all-atom details are included, which practically forces us to treat them classically. We conclude this perspective by considering some recent reports that suggest that classical descriptions of bath effects with all-atom details may still produce valuable information for analyzing sophisticated contributions by vibrations to EET processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kwang Hyun Cho
- Department of Chemistry, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Korea.
| | - Young Min Rhee
- Department of Chemistry, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Korea.
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Cui X, Yan Y, Wei J. Role of Pigment-Protein Coupling in the Energy Transport Dynamics in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson Complex. J Phys Chem B 2021; 125:11884-11892. [PMID: 34669415 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c06844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The role of pigment-protein coupling in the dynamics of photosynthetic energy transport in chromophoric complexes has not been fully understood. The excitation energy transfer in the photosynthetic system is tremendously efficient. In particular, we investigate the excitation energy transport in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex. The exciton dynamics and excitation energy transfer (EET) depend on the interaction between the excited chromophores and their environment. Most theoretical models believe that all bacteriochlorophyll-a (BChla) sites are surrounded by the same local protein environment, which is contradicted by the structural analysis of the FMO complex. Based on different values of pigment-protein coupling for different sites, measured in the adiabatic limit, we have theoretically investigated the effect of the heterogeneous local protein environment on the EET process. By the realistic and site-dependent model of the system-bath couplings, the results show that this interaction may have a critical value for the coherent energy-transfer process. Furthermore, we verify that the two transport pathways are coherent and stable to the important parameter reorganization energy of environmental interactions. The quantum dynamical simulations show that the correlation fluctuation keeps the oscillation of the coherent excitation on a long timescale. In addition, due to the inhomogeneous pigment-protein coupling, different BChl sites have asymmetric excitation oscillation timescales.
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Affiliation(s)
- XueYan Cui
- Department of Physics & Beijing Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Functional Materials and Micro-nano Devices, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
| | - YiJing Yan
- Department of Chemical Physics & Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
| | - JianHua Wei
- Department of Physics & Beijing Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Functional Materials and Micro-nano Devices, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
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Seibt J, Kühn O. Exciton transfer using rates extracted from the “hierarchical equations of motion”. J Chem Phys 2020; 153:194112. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0027373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Joachim Seibt
- Institute of Physics, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 23-24, 18059 Rostock, Germany
| | - Oliver Kühn
- Institute of Physics, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 23-24, 18059 Rostock, Germany
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Analysis of Photosynthetic Systems and Their Applications with Mathematical and Computational Models. APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/app10196821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
In biological and life science applications, photosynthesis is an important process that involves the absorption and transformation of sunlight into chemical energy. During the photosynthesis process, the light photons are captured by the green chlorophyll pigments in their photosynthetic antennae and further funneled to the reaction center. One of the most important light harvesting complexes that are highly important in the study of photosynthesis is the membrane-attached Fenna–Matthews–Olson (FMO) complex found in the green sulfur bacteria. In this review, we discuss the mathematical formulations and computational modeling of some of the light harvesting complexes including FMO. The most recent research developments in the photosynthetic light harvesting complexes are thoroughly discussed. The theoretical background related to the spectral density, quantum coherence and density functional theory has been elaborated. Furthermore, details about the transfer and excitation of energy in different sites of the FMO complex along with other vital photosynthetic light harvesting complexes have also been provided. Finally, we conclude this review by providing the current and potential applications in environmental science, energy, health and medicine, where such mathematical and computational studies of the photosynthesis and the light harvesting complexes can be readily integrated.
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