1
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Reiter S, Gordiy I, Kollmannsberger KL, Liu F, Thyrhaug E, Leister D, Warnan J, Hauer J, de Vivie-Riedle R. Molecular interactions of photosystem I and ZIF-8 in bio-nanohybrid materials. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:23228-23239. [PMID: 39192757 DOI: 10.1039/d4cp03021d] [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: 08/29/2024]
Abstract
Bio-nanohybrid devices featuring natural photocatalysts bound to a nanostructure hold great promise in the search for sustainable energy conversion. One of the major challenges of integrating biological systems is protecting them against harsh environmental conditions while retaining, or ideally enhancing their photophysical properties. In this mainly computational work we investigate an assembly of cyanobacterial photosystem I (PS I) embedded in a metal-organic framework (MOF), namely the zeolitic imidazolate framework ZIF-8. This complex has been reported experimentally [Bennett et al., Nanoscale Adv., 2019, 1, 94] but so far the molecular interactions between PS I and the MOF remained elusive. We show via absorption spectroscopy that PS I remains intact throughout the encapsulation-release cycle. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations further confirm that the encapsulation has no noticeable structural impact on the photosystem. However, the MOF building blocks frequently coordinate to the Mg2+ ions of chlorophylls in the periphery of the antenna complex. High-level quantum mechanical calculations reveal charge-transfer interactions, which affect the excitonic network and thereby may reversibly change the fluorescence properties of PS I. Nevertheless, our results highlight the stability of PS I in the MOF, as the reaction center remains unimpeded by the heterogeneous environment, paving the way for applications in the foreseeable future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Reiter
- Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Butenandtstr. 11, 81377 Munich, Germany.
| | - Igor Gordiy
- Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Butenandtstr. 11, 81377 Munich, Germany.
| | - Kathrin L Kollmannsberger
- Chair of Inorganic and Metal-Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center (CRC), TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstr. 4, 85748 Garching, Germany
| | - Feng Liu
- Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Großhaderner Str. 2-4, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Erling Thyrhaug
- Professorship of Dynamic Spectroscopy, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center (CRC), TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstr. 4, 85748 Garching, Germany.
| | - Dario Leister
- Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Großhaderner Str. 2-4, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Julien Warnan
- Chair of Inorganic and Metal-Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center (CRC), TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstr. 4, 85748 Garching, Germany
| | - Jürgen Hauer
- Professorship of Dynamic Spectroscopy, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center (CRC), TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstr. 4, 85748 Garching, Germany.
| | - Regina de Vivie-Riedle
- Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Butenandtstr. 11, 81377 Munich, Germany.
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2
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Drosou M, Bhattacharjee S, Pantazis DA. Combined Multireference-Multiscale Approach to the Description of Photosynthetic Reaction Centers. J Chem Theory Comput 2024; 20. [PMID: 39116215 PMCID: PMC11360140 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.4c00578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2024] [Revised: 07/02/2024] [Accepted: 07/12/2024] [Indexed: 08/10/2024]
Abstract
A first-principles description of the primary photochemical processes that drive photosynthesis and sustain life on our planet remains one of the grand challenges of modern science. Recent research established that explicit incorporation of protein electrostatics in excited-state calculations of photosynthetic pigments, achieved for example with quantum-mechanics/molecular-mechanics (QM/MM) approaches, is essential for a meaningful description of the properties and function of pigment-protein complexes. Although time-dependent density functional theory has been used productively so far in QM/MM approaches for the study of such systems, this methodology has limitations. Here we pursue for the first time a QM/MM description of the reaction center in the principal enzyme of oxygenic photosynthesis, Photosystem II, using multireference wave function theory for the high-level QM region. We identify best practices and establish guidelines regarding the rational choice of active space and appropriate state-averaging for the efficient and reliable use of complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) and the N-electron valence state perturbation theory (NEVPT2) in the prediction of low-lying excited states of chlorophyll and pheophytin pigments. Given that the Gouterman orbitals are inadequate as a minimal active space, we define specific minimal and extended active spaces for the NEVPT2 description of electronic states that fall within the Q and B bands. Subsequently, we apply our multireference-QM/MM protocol to the description of all pigments in the reaction center of Photosystem II. The calculations reproduce the electrochromic shifts induced by the protein matrix and the ordering of site energies consistent with the identity of the primary donor (ChlD1) and the experimentally known asymmetric and directional electron transfer. The optimized protocol sets the stage for future multireference treatments of multiple pigments, and hence for multireference studies of charge separation, while it is transferable to the study of any photoactive embedded tetrapyrrole system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Drosou
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Sinjini Bhattacharjee
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Dimitrios A. Pantazis
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
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3
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Rankelytė G, Gelzinis A, Robert B, Valkunas L, Chmeliov J. Environment-dependent chlorophyll-chlorophyll charge transfer states in Lhca4 pigment-protein complex. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2024; 15:1412750. [PMID: 39170787 PMCID: PMC11335733 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1412750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2024] [Accepted: 07/02/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024]
Abstract
Photosystem I (PSI) light-harvesting antenna complexes LHCI contain spectral forms that absorb and emit photons of lower energy than that of its primary electron donor, P700. The most red-shifted fluorescence is associated with the Lhca4 complex. It has been suggested that this red emission is related to the inter-chlorophyll charge transfer (CT) states. In this work we present a systematic quantum-chemical study of the CT states in Lhca4, accounting for the influence of the protein environment by estimating the electrostatic interactions. We show that significant energy shifts result from these interactions and propose that the emission of the Lhca4 complex is related not only to the previously proposed a603+-a608- state, but also to the a602+-a603- state. We also investigate how different protonation patterns of protein amino acids affect the energetics of the CT states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabrielė Rankelytė
- Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Department of Molecular Compound Physics, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Andrius Gelzinis
- Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Department of Molecular Compound Physics, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Bruno Robert
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Leonas Valkunas
- Department of Molecular Compound Physics, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Jevgenij Chmeliov
- Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Department of Molecular Compound Physics, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Vilnius, Lithuania
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4
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Neville SP, Schuurman MS. Calculation of quasi-diabatic states within the DFT/MRCI(2) framework: The QD-DFT/MRCI(2) method. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:234109. [PMID: 38899687 DOI: 10.1063/5.0214637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2024] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024] Open
Abstract
We describe a procedure for the calculation of quasi-diabatic states within the recently introduced DFT/MRCI(2) framework [S. P. Neville and M. S. Schuurman, J. Chem. Phys. 157, 164103 (2022)]. Based on an effective Hamiltonian formalism, the proposed procedure, which we term QD-DFT/MRCI(2), has the advantageous characteristics of being simultaneously highly efficient and effectively black box in nature while directly yielding both quasi-diabatic potentials and wave functions of high quality. The accuracy and efficiency of the QD-DFT/MRCI(2) formalism are demonstrated via the simulation of the vibronic absorption spectra of furan and chlorophyll a.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon P Neville
- National Research Council Canada, 100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada
| | - Michael S Schuurman
- National Research Council Canada, 100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada
- Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Ottawa, 10 Marie Curie, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada
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5
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Costain TS, Ogden V, Neville SP, Schuurman MS. A DFT/MRCI Hamiltonian parameterized using only ab initio data: I. valence excited states. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:224106. [PMID: 38856682 DOI: 10.1063/5.0210897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024] Open
Abstract
A new combined density functional theory and multi-reference configuration interaction (DFT/MRCI) Hamiltonian parameterized solely using the benchmark ab initio vertical excitation energies obtained from the QUEST databases is presented. This new formulation differs from all previous versions of the method in that the choice of the underlying exchange-correlation (XC) functional employed to construct the one-particle (orbital) basis is considered, and a new XC functional, QTP17, is chosen for its ability to generate a balanced description of core and valence vertical excitation energies. The ability of the new DFT/MRCI Hamiltonian, termed QE8, to furnish accurate excitation energies is confirmed using benchmark quantum chemistry computations, and a mean absolute error of 0.16 eV is determined for the wide range of electronic excitations included in the validation dataset. In particular, the QE8 Hamiltonian dramatically improves the performance of DFT/MRCI for doubly excited states. The performance of fast approximate DFT/MRCI methods, p-DFT/MRCI and DFT/MRCI(2), is also evaluated using the QE8 Hamiltonian, and they are found to yield excitation energies in quantitative agreement with the parent DFT/MRCI method, with the two methods exhibiting a mean difference of 0.01 eV with respect to DFT/MRCI over the entire benchmark set.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teagan Shane Costain
- Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada
| | - Victoria Ogden
- Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada
| | - Simon P Neville
- National Research Council Canada, 100 Sussex Dr., Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada
| | - Michael S Schuurman
- Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada
- National Research Council Canada, 100 Sussex Dr., Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada
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6
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Bhattacharjee S, Arra S, Daidone I, Pantazis DA. Excitation landscape of the CP43 photosynthetic antenna complex from multiscale simulations. Chem Sci 2024; 15:7269-7284. [PMID: 38756808 PMCID: PMC11095388 DOI: 10.1039/d3sc06714a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Photosystem II (PSII), the principal enzyme of oxygenic photosynthesis, contains two integral light harvesting proteins (CP43 and CP47) that bind chlorophylls and carotenoids. The two intrinsic antennae play crucial roles in excitation energy transfer and photoprotection. CP43 interacts most closely with the reaction center of PSII, specifically with the branch of the reaction center (D1) that is responsible for primary charge separation and electron transfer. Deciphering the function of CP43 requires detailed atomic-level insights into the properties of the embedded pigments. To advance this goal, we employ a range of multiscale computational approaches to determine the site energies and excitonic profile of CP43 chlorophylls, using large all-atom models of a membrane-bound PSII monomer. In addition to time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) used in the context of a quantum-mechanics/molecular-mechanics setup (QM/MM), we present a thorough analysis using the perturbed matrix method (PMM), which enables us to utilize information from long-timescale molecular dynamics simulations of native PSII-complexed CP43. The excited state energetics and excitonic couplings have both similarities and differences compared with previous experimental fits and theoretical calculations. Both static TD-DFT and dynamic PMM results indicate a layered distribution of site energies and reveal specific groups of chlorophylls that have shared contributions to low-energy excitations. Importantly, the contribution to the lowest energy exciton does not arise from the same chlorophylls at each system configuration, but rather changes as a function of conformational dynamics. An unexpected finding is the identification of a low-energy charge-transfer excited state within CP43 that involves a lumenal (C2) and the central (C10) chlorophyll of the complex. The results provide a refined basis for structure-based interpretation of spectroscopic observations and for further deciphering excitation energy transfer in oxygenic photosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sinjini Bhattacharjee
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr Germany
| | - Srilatha Arra
- Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of L'Aquila Via Vetoio (Coppito 1) 67010 L'Aquila Italy
| | - Isabella Daidone
- Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of L'Aquila Via Vetoio (Coppito 1) 67010 L'Aquila Italy
| | - Dimitrios A Pantazis
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr Germany
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Xu J, Hao J, Bu C, Meng Y, Xiao H, Zhang M, Li C. XMECP: Reaching State-of-the-Art MECP Optimization in Multiscale Complex Systems. J Chem Theory Comput 2024; 20:3590-3600. [PMID: 38651739 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.4c00033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
The Python-based program, XMECP, is developed for realizing robust, efficient, and state-of-the-art minimum energy crossing point (MECP) optimization in multiscale complex systems. This article introduces the basic capabilities of the XMECP program by theoretically investigating the MECP mechanism of several example systems including (1) the photosensitization mechanism of benzophenone, (2) photoinduced proton-coupled electron transfer in the cytosine-guanine base pair in DNA, (3) the spin-flip process in oxygen activation catalyzed by an iron-containing 2-oxoglutarate-dependent oxygenase (Fe/2OGX), and (4) the photochemical pathway of flavoprotein adjusted by the intensity of an external electric field. MECPs related to multistate reaction and multistate reactivity in large-scale complex biochemical systems can be well-treated by workflows suggested by the XMECP program. The branching plane updating the MECP optimization algorithm is strongly recommended as it provides derivative coupling vector (DCV) with explicit calculation and can equivalently evaluate contributions from non-QM residues to DCV, which can be nonadiabatic coupling or spin-orbit coupling in different cases. In the discussed QM/MM examples, we also found that the influence on the QM region by DCV can occur through noncovalent interactions and decay with distance. In the example of DNA base pairs, the nonadiabatic coupling occurs across the π-π stacking structure formed in the double-helix system. In contrast to general intuition, in the example of Fe/2OGX, the central ferrous and oxygen part contribute little to the spin-orbit coupling; however, a nearby arginine residue, which is treated by molecular mechanics in the QM/MM method, contributes significantly via two hydrogen bonds formed with α-ketoglutarate (α-KG). This indicates that the arginine residue plays a significant role in oxygen activation, driving the initial triplet state toward the productive quintet state, which is more than the previous knowledge that the arginine residue can bind α-KG at the reaction site by hydrogen bonds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiawei Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, P. R. China
- School of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China
| | - Jian Hao
- State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, P. R. China
- School of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China
| | - Caijie Bu
- State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, P. R. China
- College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, Fujian, P. R. China
| | - Yajie Meng
- State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, P. R. China
- School of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China
| | - Han Xiao
- State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, P. R. China
| | - Minyi Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, P. R. China
| | - Chunsen Li
- State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, P. R. China
- School of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, P. R. China
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8
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Buglak AA, Kononov AI. Interactions of deprotonated phenylalanine with gold Clusters: Theoretical study with prospects for amino acid detection. SPECTROCHIMICA ACTA. PART A, MOLECULAR AND BIOMOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY 2024; 311:124004. [PMID: 38341933 DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2024.124004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Revised: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/13/2024]
Abstract
Nanomaterials are widely used nowadays in industry and medicine. The specific properties of gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) are chemical stability, low cytotoxicity, low photobleaching, high sensitivity to the molecular environment. This set of properties allows to use Au NCs as nanosensors in bioimaging and diagnostics. We have investigated gold cluster complexes with proteinogenic amino acid phenylalanine (Phe). Detection of phenylalanine is essential for diagnostics of phenylketonuria, vitiligo, sclerosis, cancer, tuberculosis, etc. We have studied the complexes of Phe with Aunq clusters with atomic number equal 1-6, 8, 20 and a charge equal 0-2. We have established that the clusters Au40, Au21+ and Au32+ form the most stable complexes with Phe among NCs with charge 0, +1 and + 2, respectively. Intracomplex interactions have been studied using Atoms-In-Molecules (AIM) theory and Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analysis. It has been shown that metal-ligand intracomplex interactions are partially covalent and partially electrostatic. Also, we have simulated the UV-vis absorption and Raman spectra of the Phe-Au NCs. We have established that the clusters possess prospective features if being used for colorimetric and Raman detection of Phe. Au20 cluster is remarkable for its six-times enhancement of the Raman signal. Moreover, our study provides insights into metal-ligand interactions for clusters synthesized inside a polypeptide globula. Hence, to the best of our knowledge this is a first attempt to perform a detailed analysis of Phe interactions with gold using quantum chemical calculations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrey A Buglak
- Saint-Petersburg State University, Faculty of Physics, Department of Molecular Biophysics and Polymer Physics 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia.
| | - Alexei I Kononov
- Saint-Petersburg State University, Faculty of Physics, Department of Molecular Biophysics and Polymer Physics 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia
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9
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Cherepanov DA, Milanovsky GE, Neverov KV, Obukhov YN, Maleeva YV, Aybush AV, Kritsky MS, Nadtochenko VA. Exciton interactions of chlorophyll tetramer in water-soluble chlorophyll-binding protein BoWSCP. SPECTROCHIMICA ACTA. PART A, MOLECULAR AND BIOMOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY 2024; 309:123847. [PMID: 38217986 DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2024.123847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Revised: 01/02/2024] [Accepted: 01/03/2024] [Indexed: 01/15/2024]
Abstract
The exciton interaction of four chlorophyll a (Chl a) molecules in a symmetrical tetrameric complex of the water-soluble chlorophyll-binding protein BoWSCP was analyzed in the pH range of 3-11. Exciton splitting ΔE = 232 ± 2 cm-1 of the Qy band of Chl a into two subcomponents with relative intensities of 78.1 ± 0.7 % and 21.9 ± 0.7 % was determined by a joint decomposition of the absorption and circular dichroism spectra into Gaussian functions. The exciton coupling parameters were calculated based on the BoWSCP atomic structure in three approximations: the point dipole model, the distributed atomic monopoles, and direct ab initio calculations in the TDDFT/PCM approximation. The Coulomb interactions of monomers were calculated within the continuum model using three values of optical permittivity. The models based on the properties of free Chl a in solution suffer from significant errors both in estimating the absolute value of the exciton interaction and in the relative intensity of exciton transitions. Calculations within the TDDFT/PCM approximation reproduce the experimentally determined parameters of the exciton splitting and the relative intensities of the exciton bands. The following factors of pigment-protein and pigment-pigment interactions were examined: deviation of the macrocycle geometry from the planar conformation of free Chl; the formation of hydrogen bonds between the macrocycle and water molecules; the overlap of wave functions of monomers at close distances. The most significant factor is the geometrical deformation of the porphyrin macrocycle, which leads to an increase in the dipole moment of Chl monomer from 5.5 to 6.9 D and to a rotation of the dipole moment by 15° towards the cyclopentane ring. The contributions of resonant charge-transfer states to the wave functions of the Chl dimer were determined and the transition dipole moments of the symmetric and antisymmetric charge-transfer states were estimated.
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Affiliation(s)
- D A Cherepanov
- N.N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Kosygina str., 4, Russian Federation; A.N. Belozersky Institute Of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University, 119992 Moscow, Leninskye gory, 1b.40, Russian Federation.
| | - G E Milanovsky
- A.N. Belozersky Institute Of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University, 119992 Moscow, Leninskye gory, 1b.40, Russian Federation
| | - K V Neverov
- A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Federal Research Center "Fundamentals of Biotechnology", Russian Academy of Sciences", 119071 Moscow, Leninsky prospect, 33b.2, Russian Federation; Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Leninskye gory, 1b.12, Russian Federation
| | - Yu N Obukhov
- A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Federal Research Center "Fundamentals of Biotechnology", Russian Academy of Sciences", 119071 Moscow, Leninsky prospect, 33b.2, Russian Federation
| | - Yu V Maleeva
- Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Leninskye gory, 1b.12, Russian Federation
| | - A V Aybush
- N.N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Kosygina str., 4, Russian Federation
| | - M S Kritsky
- A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Federal Research Center "Fundamentals of Biotechnology", Russian Academy of Sciences", 119071 Moscow, Leninsky prospect, 33b.2, Russian Federation
| | - V A Nadtochenko
- N.N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Kosygina str., 4, Russian Federation; Department of Chemistry, Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Leninskye gory, 1b.3, Russian Federation
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10
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Wang Y, Guo Y, Neese F, Valeev EF, Li W, Li S. Cluster-in-Molecule Approach with Explicitly Correlated Methods for Large Molecules. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:8076-8089. [PMID: 37920973 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2023]
Abstract
In this article, we present a series of explicitly correlated local correlation methods developed under the cluster-in-molecule (CIM) framework, including explicitly correlated second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation (MP2), coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CCSD), domain-based local pair natural orbital CCSD (DLPNO-CCSD), and DLPNO-CCSD with perturbative triples (DLPNO-CCSD(T)). In these methods, F12 correction is decomposed into contributions from each occupied local molecular orbital and then evaluated independently in a given cluster, which consists of a subset of localized orbitals. These newly developed methods allow F12 calculations of large molecules (up to 145 atoms for quasi-one-dimensional systems) on a single node. We use these methods to investigate the relative stability between extended and folded alkane C30H62, the relative stability of four secondary structures of a polyglycine Ace(Gly)10NH2, and the binding energies of two host-guest complexes. The results demonstrate that the combination of CIM with F12 methods is a promising way to investigate large molecules with small basis set errors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuqi Wang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
| | - Yang Guo
- Qingdao Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong 266237, P. R. China
| | - Frank Neese
- Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, D-45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Edward F Valeev
- Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States
| | - Wei Li
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
| | - Shuhua Li
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
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11
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Inai N, Yamaguchi S, Yanai T. Theoretical Insight into the Effect of Phosphorus Oxygenation on Nonradiative Decays: Comparative Analysis of P-Bridged Stilbene Analogs. ACS PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY AU 2023; 3:540-552. [PMID: 38034034 PMCID: PMC10683489 DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.3c00038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Revised: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
Incorporation of the phosphorus element into a π-conjugated skeleton offers valuable prospects for adjusting the electronic structure of the resulting functional π-electron systems. Trivalent phosphorus has the potential to decrease the LUMO level through σ*-π* interaction, which is further enhanced by its oxygenation to the pentavalent P center. This study shows that utilizing our computational analysis to examine excited-state dynamics based on radiative/nonradiative rate constants and fluorescence quantum yield (ΦF) is effective for analyzing the photophysical properties of P-containing organic dyes. We theoretically investigate how the trivalent phosphanyl group and pentavalent phosphine oxide moieties affect radiative and nonradiative decay processes. We evaluate four variations of P-bridged stilbene analogs. Our analysis reveals that the primary decay pathway for photoexcited bis-phosphanyl-bridged stilbene is the intersystem crossing (ISC) to the triplet state and nonradiative. The oxidation of the phosphine moiety, however, suppresses the ISC due to the relative destabilization of the triplet states. The calculated rate constants match an increase in experimental ΦF from 0.07 to 0.98, as simulated from 0.23 to 0.94. The reduced HOMO-LUMO gap supports a red shift in the fluorescence spectra relative to the phosphine analog. The thiophene-fused variant with the nonoxidized trivalent P center exhibits intense emission with a high ΦF, 0.95. Our prediction indicates that the ISC transfer is obstructed owing to the relatively destabilized triplet state induced by the thiophene substitution. Conversely, the thiophene-fused analog with the phosphine oxide moieties triggers a high-rate internal conversion mediated by conical intersection, leading to a decreased ΦF.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naoto Inai
- Department
of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho,
Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan
| | - Shigehiro Yamaguchi
- Department
of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Integrated Research Consortium
on Chemical Science (IRCCS), Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan
- Institute
of Transformative Bio-Molecules, (WPI-ITbM), Nagoya University, Furo-cho,
Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan
| | - Takeshi Yanai
- Department
of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Integrated Research Consortium
on Chemical Science (IRCCS), Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan
- Institute
of Transformative Bio-Molecules, (WPI-ITbM), Nagoya University, Furo-cho,
Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan
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12
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Sirohiwal A, Pantazis DA. Reaction Center Excitation in Photosystem II: From Multiscale Modeling to Functional Principles. Acc Chem Res 2023; 56:2921-2932. [PMID: 37844298 PMCID: PMC10634305 DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.3c00392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023]
Abstract
Oxygenic photosynthesis is the fundamental energy-converting process that utilizes sunlight to generate molecular oxygen and the organic compounds that sustain life. Protein-pigment complexes harvest light and transfer excitation energy to specialized pigment assemblies, reaction centers (RC), where electron transfer cascades are initiated. A molecular-level understanding of the primary events is indispensable for elucidating the principles of natural photosynthesis and enabling development of bioinspired technologies. The primary enzyme in oxygenic photosynthesis is Photosystem II (PSII), a membrane-embedded multisubunit complex, that catalyzes the light-driven oxidation of water. The RC of PSII consists of four chlorophyll a and two pheophytin a pigments symmetrically arranged along two core polypeptides; only one branch participates in electron transfer. Despite decades of research, fundamental questions remain, including the origin of this functional asymmetry, the nature of primary charge-transfer states and the identity of the initial electron donor, the origin of the capability of PSII to enact charge separation with far-red photons, i.e., beyond the "red limit" where individual chlorophylls absorb, and the role of protein conformational dynamics in modulating charge-separation pathways.In this Account, we highlight developments in quantum-chemistry based excited-state computations for multipigment assemblies and the refinement of protocols for computing protein-induced electrochromic shifts and charge-transfer excitations calibrated with modern local correlation coupled cluster methods. We emphasize the importance of multiscale atomistic quantum-mechanics/molecular-mechanics and large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, which enabled direct and accurate modeling of primary processes in RC excitation at the quantum mechanical level.Our findings show how differential protein electrostatics enable spectral tuning of RC pigments and generate functional asymmetry in PSII. A chlorophyll pigment on the active branch (ChlD1) has the lowest site energy in PSII and is the primary electron donor. The complete absence of low-lying charge-transfer states within the central pair of chlorophylls excludes a long-held assumption about the initial charge separation. Instead, we identify two primary charge separation pathways, both with the same pheophytin acceptor (PheoD1): a fast pathway with ChlD1 as the primary electron donor (short-range charge-separation) and a slow pathway with PD1PD2 as the initial donor (long-range charge separation). The low-energy spectrum is dominated by two states with significant charge-transfer character, ChlD1δ+PheoD1δ- and PD1δ+PheoD1δ-. The conformational dynamics of PSII allows these charge-transfer states to span wide energy ranges, pushing oxygenic photosynthesis beyond the "red limit". These results provide a quantum mechanical picture of the primary events in the RC of oxygenic photosynthesis, forming a solid basis for interpreting experimental observations and for extending photosynthesis research in new directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhishek Sirohiwal
- Department
of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Arrhenius Laboratory, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Dimitrios A. Pantazis
- Max-Planck-Institut
für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
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13
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Migliore A, Corni S, Agostini A, Carbonera D. Unraveling the electronic origin of a special feature in the triplet-minus-singlet spectra of carotenoids in natural photosystems. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:28998-29016. [PMID: 37859550 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp03836j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
The influence of carotenoid triplet states on the Qy electronic transitions of chlorophylls has been observed in experiments on light-harvesting complexes over the past three decades, but the interpretation of the resulting spectral feature in the triplet minus singlet (T-S) absorption spectra of photosystems is still debated, as the physical-chemical explanation of this feature has been elusive. Here, we resolve this debate, by explaining the T-S spectra of pigment complexes over the Qy-band spectral region through a comparative study of chlorophyll-carotenoid model dyads and larger pigment complexes from the main light harvesting complex of higher plants (LHCII). This goal is achieved by combining state-of-the-art time-dependent density functional theory with analysis of the relationship between electronic properties and nuclear structure, and by comparison to the experiment. We find that the special signature in the T-S spectra of both model and natural photosystems is determined by singlet-like triplet excitations that can be described as effective singlet excitations on chlorophylls influenced by a stable electronic triplet on the carotenoid. The comparison with earlier experiments on different light-harvesting complexes confirms our theoretical interpretation of the T-S spectra in the Qy spectral region. Our results indicate an important role for the chlorophyll-carotenoid electronic coupling, which is also responsible for the fast triplet-triplet energy transfer, suggesting a fast trapping of the triplet into the relaxed carotenoid structure. The gained understanding of the interplay between the electronic and nuclear structures is potentially informative for future studies of the mechanism of photoprotection by carotenoids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agostino Migliore
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy.
| | - Stefano Corni
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy.
- CNR Institute of Nanoscience, 41125 Modena, Italy
| | - Alessandro Agostini
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy.
| | - Donatella Carbonera
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy.
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14
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Götze JP, Lokstein H. Excitation Energy Transfer between Higher Excited States of Photosynthetic Pigments: 2. Chlorophyll b is a B Band Excitation Trap. ACS OMEGA 2023; 8:40015-40023. [PMID: 37929150 PMCID: PMC10620878 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c05896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
Chlorophylls (Chls) are known for fast, subpicosecond internal conversion (IC) from ultraviolet/blue absorbing ("B" or "Soret" states) to the energetically lower, red light-absorbing Q states. Consequently, excitation energy transfer (EET) in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes involving the B states has so far not been considered. We present, for the first time, a theoretical framework for the existence of B-B EET in tightly coupled Chl aggregates such as photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes. We show that according to a Förster resonance energy transport (FRET) scheme, unmodulated B-B EET has an unexpectedly high range. Unsuppressed, it could pose an existential threat-the damage potential of blue light for photochemical reaction centers (RCs) is well-known. This insight reveals so-far undescribed roles for carotenoids (Crts, cf. previous article in this series) and Chl b (this article) of possibly vital importance. Our model system is the photosynthetic antenna pigment-protein complex (CP29). The focus of the study is on the role of Chl b for EET in the Q and B bands. Further, the initial excited pigment distribution in the B band is computed for relevant solar irradiation and wavelength-centered laser pulses. It is found that both accessory pigment classes compete efficiently with Chl a absorption in the B band, leaving only 40% of B band excitations for Chl a. B state population is preferentially relocated to Chl b after excitation of any Chls, due to a near-perfect match of Chl b B band absorption with Chl a B state emission spectra. This results in an efficient depletion of the Chl a population (0.66 per IC/EET step, as compared to 0.21 in a Chl a-only system). Since Chl b only occurs in the peripheral antenna complexes of plants and algae, and RCs contain only Chl a, this would automatically trap potentially dangerous B state population in the antennae, preventing forwarding to the RCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan P. Götze
- Institut
für Chemie und Biochemie, Fachbereich Biologie Chemie Pharmazie, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Heiko Lokstein
- Department
of Chemical Physics and Optics, Charles
University, Ke Karlovu
3, 121 16 Prague
2, Czech Republic
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15
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Götze JP, Lokstein H. Excitation Energy Transfer between Higher Excited States of Photosynthetic Pigments: 1. Carotenoids Intercept and Remove B Band Excitations. ACS OMEGA 2023; 8:40005-40014. [PMID: 37929138 PMCID: PMC10620780 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c05895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
Chlorophylls (Chls) are known for fast, subpicosecond internal conversion (IC) from ultraviolet/blue-absorbing ("B" or "Soret" states) to the energetically lower, red light-absorbing Q states. Consequently, excitation energy transfer (EET) in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes involving the B states has so far not been considered. We present, for the first time, a theoretical framework for the existence of B-B EET in tightly coupled Chl aggregates such as photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes. We show that according to a Förster resonance energy transport (FRET) scheme, unmodulated B-B EET has an unexpectedly high range. Unsuppressed, it could pose an existential threat: the damage potential of blue light for photochemical reaction centers (RCs) is well-known. This insight reveals so far undescribed roles for carotenoids (Crts, this article) and Chl b (next article in this series) of possibly vital importance. Our model system is the photosynthetic antenna pigment-protein complex (CP29). Here, we show that the B → Q IC is assisted by the optically allowed Crt state (S2): The sequence is B → S2 (Crt, unrelaxed) → S2 (Crt, relaxed) → Q. This sequence has the advantage of preventing ∼39% of Chl-Chl B-B EET since the Crt S2 state is a highly efficient FRET acceptor. The B-B EET range and thus the likelihood of CP29 to forward potentially harmful B excitations toward the RC are thus reduced. In contrast to the B band of Chls, most Crt energy donation is energetically located near the Q band, which allows for 74/80% backdonation (from lutein/violaxanthin) to Chls. Neoxanthin, on the other hand, likely donates in the B band region of Chl b, with 76% efficiency. Crts thus act not only in their currently proposed photoprotective roles but also as a crucial building block for any system that could otherwise deliver harmful "blue" excitations to the RCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan P. Götze
- Institut
für Chemie und Biochemie, Fachbereich Biologie Chemie Pharmazie, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Heiko Lokstein
- Department
of Chemical Physics and Optics, Charles
University, Ke Karlovu
3, 121 16 Prague, Czech Republic
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16
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Cherepanov DA, Neverov KV, Obukhov YN, Maleeva YV, Gostev FE, Shelaev IV, Aybush AV, Kritsky MS, Nadtochenko VA. Femtosecond Dynamics of Excited States of Chlorophyll Tetramer in Water-Soluble Chlorophyll-Binding Protein BoWSCP. BIOCHEMISTRY. BIOKHIMIIA 2023; 88:1580-1595. [PMID: 38105026 DOI: 10.1134/s0006297923100139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Revised: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
The paper reports on the absorption dynamics of chlorophyll a in a symmetric tetrameric complex of the water-soluble chlorophyll-binding protein BoWSCP. It was measured by a broadband femtosecond laser pump-probe spectroscopy within the range from 400 to 750 nm and with a time resolution of 20 fs-200 ps. When BoWSCP was excited in the region of the Soret band at a wavelength of 430 nm, nonradiative intramolecular conversion S3→S1 was observed with a characteristic time of 83 ± 9 fs. When the complex was excited in the region of the Qy band at 670 nm, relaxation transition between two excitonic states of the chlorophyll dimer was observed in the range of 105 ± 10 fs. Absorption spectra of the excited singlet states S1 and S3 of chlorophyll a were obtained. The delocalization of the excited state between exciton-coupled Chl molecules in BoWSCP tetramer changed in time and depended on the excitation energy. When BoWSCP is excited in the Soret band region, an ultrafast photochemical reaction is observed. This could result from the reduction of tryptophan in the vicinity of chlorophyll.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry A Cherepanov
- Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991, Russia.
- Belozersky Research Institute of Physical and Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119992, Russia
| | - Konstantin V Neverov
- Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Federal Research Center "Fundamentals of Biotechnology" of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119071, Russia
- Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russia
| | - Yuriy N Obukhov
- Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Federal Research Center "Fundamentals of Biotechnology" of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119071, Russia
| | - Yulia V Maleeva
- Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russia
| | - Feodor E Gostev
- Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991, Russia
| | - Ivan V Shelaev
- Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991, Russia
- Belozersky Research Institute of Physical and Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119992, Russia
| | - Arseny V Aybush
- Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991, Russia
| | - Michail S Kritsky
- Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Federal Research Center "Fundamentals of Biotechnology" of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119071, Russia
| | - Victor A Nadtochenko
- Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991, Russia.
- Faculty of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russia
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17
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Bhattacharjee S, Neese F, Pantazis DA. Triplet states in the reaction center of Photosystem II. Chem Sci 2023; 14:9503-9516. [PMID: 37712047 PMCID: PMC10498673 DOI: 10.1039/d3sc02985a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023] Open
Abstract
In oxygenic photosynthesis sunlight is harvested and funneled as excitation energy into the reaction center (RC) of Photosystem II (PSII), the site of primary charge separation that initiates the photosynthetic electron transfer chain. The chlorophyll ChlD1 pigment of the RC is the primary electron donor, forming a charge-separated radical pair with the vicinal pheophytin PheoD1 (ChlD1+PheoD1-). To avert charge recombination, the electron is further transferred to plastoquinone QA, whereas the hole relaxes to a central pair of chlorophylls (PD1PD2), subsequently driving water oxidation. Spin-triplet states can form within the RC when forward electron transfer is inhibited or back reactions are favored. This can lead to formation of singlet dioxygen, with potential deleterious effects. Here we investigate the nature and properties of triplet states within the PSII RC using a multiscale quantum-mechanics/molecular-mechanics (QM/MM) approach. The low-energy spectrum of excited singlet and triplet states, of both local and charge-transfer nature, is compared using range-separated time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). We further compute electron paramagnetic resonance properties (zero-field splitting parameters and hyperfine coupling constants) of relaxed triplet states and compare them with available experimental data. Moreover, the electrostatic modulation of excited state energetics and redox properties of RC pigments by the semiquinone QA- is described. The results provide a detailed electronic-level understanding of triplet states within the PSII RC and form a refined basis for discussing primary and secondary electron transfer, charge recombination pathways, and possible photoprotection mechanisms in PSII.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sinjini Bhattacharjee
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr Germany
| | - Frank Neese
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr Germany
| | - Dimitrios A Pantazis
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr Germany
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18
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Ruan M, Li H, Zhang Y, Zhao R, Zhang J, Wang Y, Gao J, Wang Z, Wang Y, Sun D, Ding W, Weng Y. Cryo-EM structures of LHCII in photo-active and photo-protecting states reveal allosteric regulation of light harvesting and excess energy dissipation. NATURE PLANTS 2023; 9:1547-1557. [PMID: 37653340 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-023-01500-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
The major light-harvesting complex of photosystem II (LHCII) has a dual regulatory function in a process called non-photochemical quenching to avoid the formation of reactive oxygen. LHCII undergoes reversible conformation transitions to switch between a light-harvesting state for excited-state energy transfer and an energy-quenching state for dissipating excess energy under full sunshine. Here we report cryo-electron microscopy structures of LHCII in membrane nanodiscs, which mimic in vivo LHCII, and in detergent solution at pH 7.8 and 5.4, respectively. We found that, under low pH conditions, the salt bridges at the lumenal side of LHCII are broken, accompanied by the formation of two local α-helices on the lumen side. The formation of α-helices in turn triggers allosterically global protein conformational change, resulting in a smaller crossing angle between transmembrane helices. The fluorescence decay rates corresponding to different conformational states follow the Dexter energy transfer mechanism with a characteristic transition distance of 5.6 Å between Lut1 and Chl612. The experimental observations are consistent with the computed electronic coupling strengths using multistate density function theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meixia Ruan
- Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hao Li
- School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
- Institute of Systems and Physical Biology, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, China
| | - Ying Zhang
- Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ruoqi Zhao
- Institute of Systems and Physical Biology, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jun Zhang
- Institute of Systems and Physical Biology, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yingjie Wang
- Institute of Systems and Physical Biology, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jiali Gao
- School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China.
- Institute of Systems and Physical Biology, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, China.
- Department of Chemistry and Supercomputing Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
| | - Zhuan Wang
- Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yumei Wang
- Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Dapeng Sun
- Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Wei Ding
- Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
| | - Yuxiang Weng
- Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, China.
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19
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Petry S, Tremblay JC, Götze JP. Impact of Structure, Coupling Scheme, and State of Interest on the Energy Transfer in CP29. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:7207-7219. [PMID: 37581578 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c01012] [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: 08/16/2023]
Abstract
The Qy and Bx excitation energy transfer (EET) in the minor light-harvesting complex CP29 (LHCII B4.1) antenna complex of Pisum sativum was characterized using a computational approach. We applied Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) and the transition density cube (TDC) method to estimate the Coulombic coupling, based on a combination of classical molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations. Employing TDC instead of FRET mostly affects the EET between chlorophylls (Chls) and carotenoids (Crts), as expected due to the Crts being spatially more challenging for FRET. Only between Chls, effects are found to be small (about only 0.1 EET efficiency change when introducing TDC instead of FRET). Effects of structural sampling were found to be small, illustrated by a small average standard deviation for the Qy state coupling elements (FRET/TDC: 0.97/0.94 cm-1). Due to the higher flexibility of the Bx state, the corresponding deviations are larger (FRET/TDC between Chl-Chl pairs: 17.58/22.67 cm-1, between Crt-Chl pairs: 62.58/31.63 cm-1). In summary, it was found for the Q band that the coupling between Chls varies only slightly depending on FRET or TDC, resulting in a minute effect on EET acceptor preference. In contrast, the coupling in the B band spectral region is found to be more affected. Here, the S2 (1Bu) states of the spatially challenging Crts may act as acceptors in addition to the B states of the Chls. Depending on FRET or TDC, several Chls show different Chl-to-Crt couplings. Interestingly, the EET between Chls or Crts in the B band is found to often outcompete the corresponding decay processes. The individual efficiencies for B band EET to Crts vary however strongly with the chosen coupling scheme (e.g., up to 0.29/0.99 FRET/TDC efficiency for the Chl a604/neoxanthin pair). Thus, the choice of the coupling scheme must involve a consideration of the state of interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Petry
- Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - J C Tremblay
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Théoriques, CNRS-Université de Lorraine, 57070 Metz, France
| | - J P Götze
- Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
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20
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Adkins JF, Kaur A, Alom MS, Chandran H, Ramezanipour F, Wilson AJ. Directing the size and dispersity of silver nanoparticles with kudzu leaf extracts. RSC Adv 2023; 13:25360-25368. [PMID: 37622008 PMCID: PMC10445525 DOI: 10.1039/d3ra03847e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Kudzu is an abundant and invasive species in the Southeastern United States. The prospective use of kudzu as a non-toxic, green and biocompatible reducing and stabilizing agent for one-pot Ag nanoparticle synthesis was investigated. Ag nanoparticles were synthesized using aqueous and ethanolic kudzu leaf and stem extracts. The size and dispersity of the synthesized nanoparticles were found to depend on the extract used. Ultraviolet-visible and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies were used to characterize the extracts. Surface-enhanced fluorescence and Raman scattering were used to characterize the surface species on synthesized Ag nanoparticles. The primary reducing and stabilizing agents in aqueous kudzu leaf extracts were determined to be reducing sugars and saponins which result in Ag nanoparticles with average diameters of 21.2 ± 4.8 nm. Ethanolic kudzu leaf extract was determined to be composed of chlorophyll, reducing sugars and saponins, producing Ag nanoparticles with average diameters of 9.0 ± 1.6 nm. Control experiments using a chlorophyllin standard as the reducing and stabilizing agent reveal that chlorophyll has a key role in the formation of small and monodisperse Ag nanoparticles. Experiments carried out in the absence of light demonstrate that reducing sugars and saponins also contribute to the formation of Ag nanoparticles in ethanolic kudzu leaf extracts. We propose a mechanism by which reducing sugars donate electrons to reduce Ag+ leading to the formation of Ag nanoparticles, forming carboxylic acid sugars which stabilize and partially stabilize Ag nanoparticles synthesized with aqueous and ethanolic kudzu leaf extracts, respectively. In the ethanolic extract, photoexcited chlorophyll serves as a co-reducing and co-stabilizing agent, leading to small and monodisperse Ag nanoparticles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaley Faith Adkins
- Department of Chemistry, University of Louisville Louisville Kentucky 40292 USA
| | - Amandeep Kaur
- Department of Chemistry, University of Louisville Louisville Kentucky 40292 USA
| | - Md Sofiul Alom
- Department of Chemistry, University of Louisville Louisville Kentucky 40292 USA
| | | | | | - Andrew J Wilson
- Department of Chemistry, University of Louisville Louisville Kentucky 40292 USA
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21
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Ieritano C, Haack A, Hopkins WS. Chemical Transformations Can Occur during DMS Separations: Lessons Learned from Beer's Bittering Compounds. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY 2023. [PMID: 37310853 DOI: 10.1021/jasms.3c00040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
While developing a DMS-based separation method for beer's bittering compounds, we observed that the argentinated forms of humulone tautomers (i.e., [Hum + Ag]+) were partially resolvable in a N2 environment seeded with 1.5 mol % of isopropyl alcohol (IPA). Attempting to improve the separation by introducing resolving gas unexpectedly caused the peaks for the cis-keto and trans-keto tautomers of [Hum + Ag]+ to coalesce. To understand why resolution loss occurred, we first confirmed that each of the tautomeric forms (i.e., dienol, cis-keto, and trans-keto) responsible for the three peaks in the [Hum + Ag]+ ionogram were assigned to the correct species by employing collision-induced dissociation, UV photodissociation spectroscopy, and hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX). The observation of HDX indicated that proton transfer was stimulated by dynamic clustering processes between IPA and [Hum + Ag]+ during DMS transit. Because IPA accretion preferentially occurs at Ag+, which can form pseudocovalent bonds with a suitable electron donor, solvent clustering also facilitated the formation of exceptionally stable microsolvated ions. The exceptional stability of these microsolvated configurations disproportionately impacted the compensation voltage (CV) required to elute each tautomer when the temperature within the DMS cell was varied. The disparity in CV response caused the peaks for the cis- and trans-keto species to merge when a temperature gradient was induced by the resolving gas. Moreover, simulations showed that microsolvation with IPA mediates dienol to trans-keto tautomerization during DMS transit, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first observation of keto/enol tautomerization occurring within an ion-mobility device.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Ieritano
- Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
- Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
- Watermine Innovation, Waterloo, Ontario N0B 2T0, Canada
| | - Alexander Haack
- Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
- Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
| | - W Scott Hopkins
- Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
- Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
- Watermine Innovation, Waterloo, Ontario N0B 2T0, Canada
- Centre for Eye and Vision Research, 17 W Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin, New Territories 999077, Hong Kong
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22
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Chau Nguyen K, Nguyen Tran AT, Wang P, Zhang S, Wu Z, Taniguchi M, Lindsey JS. Four Routes to 3-(3-Methoxy-1,3-dioxopropyl)pyrrole, a Core Motif of Rings C and E in Photosynthetic Tetrapyrroles. Molecules 2023; 28:molecules28031323. [PMID: 36770988 PMCID: PMC9920783 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28031323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The photosynthetic tetrapyrroles share a common structural feature comprised of a β-ketoester motif embedded in an exocyclic ring (ring E). As part of a total synthesis program aimed at preparing native structures and analogues, 3-(3-methoxy-1,3-dioxopropyl)pyrrole was sought. The pyrrole is a precursor to analogues of ring C and the external framework of ring E. Four routes were developed. Routes 1-3 entail a Pd-mediated coupling process of a 3-iodopyrrole with potassium methyl malonate, whereas route 4 relies on electrophilic substitution of TIPS-pyrrole with methyl malonyl chloride. Together, the four routes afford considerable latitude. A long-term objective is to gain the capacity to create chlorophylls and bacteriochlorophylls and analogues thereof by facile de novo means for diverse studies across the photosynthetic sciences.
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23
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Baschieri A, Aleotti F, Matteucci E, Sambri L, Mancinelli M, Mazzanti A, Leoni E, Armaroli N, Monti F. A Pyridyl-1,2-azaborine Ligand for Phosphorescent Neutral Iridium(III) Complexes. Inorg Chem 2023; 62:2456-2469. [PMID: 36696253 PMCID: PMC9906742 DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c04449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
A novel 1,2-azaborine (i.e., 4-methyl-2-(pyridin-2-yl)-2,1-borazaronaphthalene, 1a) has been synthesized and used for the first time as a B-N alternative to common cyclometalating ligands to obtain neutral phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes (i.e., 2a, 3, and 4) of general formula [Ir(C∧N)2(N∧NB)], where C∧N indicates three different cyclometalating ligands (Hppy = 2-phenylpyridine; Hdfppy = 2-(2,4-difluoro-phenyl)pyridine; Hpqu = 2-methyl-3-phenylquinoxaline). Moreover, the azaborine-based complex 2a was compared to the isoelectronic C═C iridium(III) complex 2b, obtained using the corresponding 2-(naphthalen-2-yl)pyridine ligand 1b. Due to the dual cyclometalation mode of such C═C ligand, the isomeric complex 2c was also obtained. All new compounds have been fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS), and the X-ray structure of 2a was determined. The electronic properties of both ligands and complexes were investigated by electrochemical, density functional theory (DFT), and photophysical methods showing that, compared to the naphthalene analogues, the azaborine ligand induces a larger band gap in the corresponding complexes, resulting in increased redox gap (basically because of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) stabilization) and blue-shifted emission bands (e.g., λmax = 523 vs 577 nm for 2a vs 2b, in acetonitrile solution at 298 K). On the other hand, the 3LC nature of the emitting state is the same in all complexes and remains centered on the pyridyl-borazaronaphthalene or its C═C pyridyl-naphthalene analogue. As a consequence, the quantum yields of such azaborine-based complexes are comparable to those of the more classical C═C counterparts (e.g., photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) = 16 vs 22% for 2a vs 2b, in acetonitrile solution at 298 K) but with enhanced excited-state energy. This proves that such type of azaborine ligands can be effectively used for the development of novel classes of photoactive transition-metal complexes for light-emitting devices or photocatalytic applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Baschieri
- Istituto
per la Sintesi Organica e la Fotoreattività, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy,
| | - Flavia Aleotti
- Dipartimento
di Chimica Industriale “Toso Montanari”, Università di Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Elia Matteucci
- Dipartimento
di Chimica Industriale “Toso Montanari”, Università di Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Letizia Sambri
- Dipartimento
di Chimica Industriale “Toso Montanari”, Università di Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Michele Mancinelli
- Dipartimento
di Chimica Industriale “Toso Montanari”, Università di Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy,
| | - Andrea Mazzanti
- Dipartimento
di Chimica Industriale “Toso Montanari”, Università di Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Enrico Leoni
- Istituto
per la Sintesi Organica e la Fotoreattività, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy,Laboratorio
Tecnologie dei Materiali Faenza, ENEA, Via Ravegnana 186, 48018 Faenza, RA, Italy
| | - Nicola Armaroli
- Istituto
per la Sintesi Organica e la Fotoreattività, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
| | - Filippo Monti
- Istituto
per la Sintesi Organica e la Fotoreattività, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy,
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24
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Feighan O, Manby FR, Bourne-Worster S. An efficient protocol for excited states of large biochromophores. J Chem Phys 2023; 158:024107. [PMID: 36641400 DOI: 10.1063/5.0132417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Efficient energy transport in photosynthetic antenna is a long-standing source of inspiration for artificial light harvesting materials. However, characterizing the excited states of the constituent chromophores poses a considerable challenge to mainstream quantum chemical and semiempirical excited state methods due to their size and complexity and the accuracy required to describe small but functionally important changes in their properties. In this paper, we explore an alternative approach to calculating the excited states of large biochromophores, exemplified by a specific method for calculating the Qy transition of bacteriochlorophyll a, which we name Chl-xTB. Using a diagonally dominant approximation to the Casida equation and a bespoke parameterization scheme, Chl-xTB can match time-dependent density functional theory's accuracy and semiempirical speed for calculating the potential energy surfaces and absorption spectra of chlorophylls. We demonstrate that Chl-xTB (and other prospective realizations of our protocol) can be integrated into multiscale models, including concurrent excitonic and point-charge embedding frameworks, enabling the analysis of biochromophore networks in a native environment. We exploit this capability to probe the low-frequency spectral densities of excitonic energies and interchromophore interactions in the light harvesting antenna protein LH2 (light harvesting complex 2). The impact of low-frequency protein motion on interchromophore coupling and exciton transport has routinely been ignored due to the prohibitive costs of including it in simulations. Our results provide a more rigorous basis for continued use of this approximation by demonstrating that exciton transition energies are unaffected by low-frequency vibrational coupling to exciton interaction energies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver Feighan
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, United Kingdom
| | - Frederick R Manby
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, United Kingdom
| | - Susannah Bourne-Worster
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, United Kingdom
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25
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Curtis K, Adeyiga O, Suleiman O, Odoh SO. Building on the strengths of a double-hybrid density functional for excitation energies and inverted singlet-triplet energy gaps. J Chem Phys 2023; 158:024116. [PMID: 36641391 DOI: 10.1063/5.0133727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
It is demonstrated that a double hybrid density functional approximation, ωB88PTPSS, that incorporates equipartition of density functional theory and the non-local correlation, however with a meta-generalized gradient approximation correlation functional, as well as with the range-separated exchange of ωB2PLYP, provides accurate excitation energies for conventional systems, as well as correct prescription of negative singlet-triplet gaps for non-conventional systems with inverted gaps, without any necessity for parametric scaling of the same-spin and opposite-spin non-local correlation energies. Examined over "safe" excitations of the QUESTDB set, ωB88PTPSS performs quite well for open-shell systems, correctly and fairly accurately [relative to equation-of-motion coupled-cluster singles and doubles (EOM-CCSD) reference] predicts negative gaps for 50 systems with inverted singlet-triplet gaps, and is one of the leading performers for intramolecular charge-transfer excitations and achieves near-second-order approximate coupled cluster (CC2) and second-order algebraic diagrammatic construction quality for the Q1 and Q2 subsets. Subsequently, we tested ωB88PTPSS on two sets of real-life examples from recent computational chemistry literature-the low energy bands of chlorophyll a (Chl a) and a set of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) systems. For Chl a, ωB88PTPSS qualitatively and quantitatively achieves DLPNO-STEOM-CCSD-level performance and provides excellent agreement with experiment. For TADF systems, ωB88PTPSS agrees quite well with spin-component-scaled CC2 (SCS-CC2) excitation energies, as well as experimental values, for the gaps between the S1 and T1 excited states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin Curtis
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
| | - Olajumoke Adeyiga
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
| | - Olabisi Suleiman
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
| | - Samuel O Odoh
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
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26
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Sandoval-Altamirano C, Berrios E, Morales J, Silva C, Gunther G. Phenalenone Derivatives: The voyage from Photosensitizers to Push-Pull fluorescent molecules. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotochem.2023.114587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
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27
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Silva PJ, Osswald-Claro M, Castro Mendonça R. How to tune the absorption spectrum of chlorophylls to enable better use of the available solar spectrum. PEERJ PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 2022. [DOI: 10.7717/peerj-pchem.26] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Photon capture by chlorophylls and other chromophores in light-harvesting complexes and photosystems is the driving force behind the light reactions of photosynthesis. Excitation of photosystem II allows it to receive electrons from the water-oxidizing oxygen-evolution complex and to transfer them to an electron-transport chain that generates a transmembrane electrochemical gradient and ultimately reduces plastocyanin, which donates its electron to photosystem I. Subsequently, excitation of photosystem I leads to electron transfer to a ferredoxin which can either reduce plastocyanin again (in so-called “cyclical electron-flow”) and release energy for the maintenance of the electrochemical gradient, or reduce NADP+ to NADPH. Although photons in the far-red (700–750 nm) portion of the solar spectrum carry enough energy to enable the functioning of the photosynthetic electron-transfer chain, most extant photosystems cannot usually take advantage of them due to only absorbing light with shorter wavelengths. In this work, we used computational methods to characterize the spectral and redox properties of 49 chlorophyll derivatives, with the aim of finding suitable candidates for incorporation into synthetic organisms with increased ability to use far-red photons. The data offer a simple and elegant explanation for the evolutionary selection of chlorophylls a, b, c, and d among all easily-synthesized singly-substituted chlorophylls, and identified one novel candidate (2,12-diformyl chlorophyll a) with an absorption peak shifted 79 nm into the far-red (relative to chlorophyll a) with redox characteristics fully suitable to its possible incorporation into photosystem I (though not photosystem II). chlorophyll d is shown by our data to be the most suitable candidate for incorporation into far-red utilizing photosystem II, and several candidates were found with red-shifted Soret bands that allow the capture of larger amounts of blue and green light by light harvesting complexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro J. Silva
- UCIBIO@REQUIMTE, BioSIM, Departamento de Biomedicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- FP-I3ID,FP-BHS, Fac. de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal
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28
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Wang Y, Ni Z, Neese F, Li W, Guo Y, Li S. Cluster-in-Molecule Method Combined with the Domain-Based Local Pair Natural Orbital Approach for Electron Correlation Calculations of Periodic Systems. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:6510-6521. [PMID: 36240189 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The cluster-in-molecule (CIM) method was extended to systems with periodic boundary conditions (PBCs) in a previous work (PBC-CIM) [J. Chem. Theory Comput.2019, 15, 2933], which is able to compute the electronic structures of periodic systems at second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) and coupled cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) levels. However, the high computational costs of CCSD with respect to the size of clusters limit the usage of PBC-CIM to crystals with small or medium unit cells. In this work, we further develop the PBC-CIM method by employing the domain-based local pair natural orbital (DLPNO) methods for the electron correlation calculations of clusters to reduce the computational costs. The combined approach allows CCSD with perturbative triples, denoted as CCSD(T), to be computationally available for accurate descriptions of periodic systems. The distant-pair correction is also implemented to improve the accuracy of PBC-CIM. As in the molecular cases, the distant pair correction significantly improves the accuracy of various PBC-CIM methods with few additional costs. The PBC-CIM-DLPNO-CCSD(T) approach has been applied to investigate the optimized lattice parameter of the cubic LiCl crystal and two adsorption problems (CO on the NaCl(100) surface and H2O on the h-BN surface). The results show that the CIM-DLPNO-CCSD(T) method offers accurate and efficient descriptions for the studied systems. Another application to the cohesive energy of the acetic acid crystal reveals that large basis sets are necessary for reliable calculations on the cohesive energies of molecular crystals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuqi Wang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing210023, P. R. China
| | - Zhigang Ni
- College of Material, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Organosilicon Chemistry and Material Technology of Ministry of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou311121, P. R. China
| | - Frank Neese
- Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, Mülheim an der RuhrD-45470, Germany
| | - Wei Li
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing210023, P. R. China
| | - Yang Guo
- Qingdao Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong266237, P. R. China
| | - Shuhua Li
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing210023, P. R. China
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29
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Förster A, Visscher L. Quasiparticle Self-Consistent GW-Bethe-Salpeter Equation Calculations for Large Chromophoric Systems. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:6779-6793. [PMID: 36201788 PMCID: PMC9648197 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
![]()
The GW-Bethe–Salpeter equation
(BSE) method
is promising for calculating the low-lying excitonic states of molecular
systems. However, so far it has only been applied to rather small
molecules and in the commonly implemented diagonal approximations
to the electronic self-energy, it depends on a mean-field starting
point. We describe here an implementation of the self-consistent and
starting-point-independent quasiparticle self-consistent (qsGW)-BSE approach, which is suitable for calculations on
large molecules. We herein show that eigenvalue-only self-consistency
can lead to an unfaithful description of some excitonic states for
chlorophyll dimers while the qsGW-BSE vertical excitation
energies (VEEs) are in excellent agreement with spectroscopic experiments
for chlorophyll monomers and dimers measured in the gas phase. Furthermore,
VEEs from time-dependent density functional theory calculations tend
to disagree with experimental values and using different range-separated
hybrid (RSH) kernels does change the VEEs by up to 0.5 eV. We use
the new qsGW-BSE implementation to calculate the
lowest excitation energies of the six chromophores of the photosystem
II (PSII) reaction center (RC) with nearly 2000 correlated electrons.
Using more than 11,000 (6000) basis functions, the calculation could
be completed in less than 5 (2) days on a single modern compute node.
In agreement with previous TD-DFT calculations using RSH kernels on
models that also do not include environmental effects, our qsGW-BSE calculations only yield states with local characters
in the low-energy spectrum of the hexameric complex. Earlier works
with RSH kernels have demonstrated that the protein environment facilitates
the experimentally observed interchromophoric charge transfer. Therefore,
future research will need to combine correlation effects beyond TD-DFT
with an explicit treatment of environmental electrostatics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arno Förster
- Theoretical Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1083, NL-1081 HVAmsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Lucas Visscher
- Theoretical Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1083, NL-1081 HVAmsterdam, The Netherlands
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30
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Cherepanov DA, Petrova AA, Mamedov MD, Vishnevskaya AI, Gostev FE, Shelaev IV, Aybush AV, Nadtochenko VA. Comparative Absorption Dynamics of the Singlet Excited States of Chlorophylls a and d. BIOCHEMISTRY. BIOKHIMIIA 2022; 87:1179-1186. [PMID: 36273886 DOI: 10.1134/s000629792210011x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Transient absorption dynamics of chlorophylls a and d dissolved in tetrahydrofuran was measured by the broadband femtosecond laser pump-probe spectroscopy in a spectral range from 400 to 870 nm. The absorption spectra of the excited S1 singlet states of chlorophylls a and d were recorded, and the dynamics of the of the Qy band shift of the stimulated emission (Stokes shift of fluorescence) was determined in a time range from 60 fs to 4 ps. The kinetics of the intramolecular conversion Qx→Qy (electronic transition S2→S1) was measured; the characteristic relaxation time was 54 ± 3 and 45 ± 9 fs for chlorophylls a and d, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry A Cherepanov
- N. N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991, Russia.
- A. N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119992, Russia
| | - Anastasia A Petrova
- A. N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119992, Russia
| | - Mahir D Mamedov
- A. N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119992, Russia
| | - Anna I Vishnevskaya
- A. N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119992, Russia
| | - Fedor E Gostev
- N. N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991, Russia
| | - Ivan V Shelaev
- N. N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991, Russia
- A. N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119992, Russia
| | - Arseniy V Aybush
- N. N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991, Russia
| | - Victor A Nadtochenko
- N. N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119991, Russia
- Faculty of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russia
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31
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Walls B, Suleiman O, Arambula C, Hall A, Adeyiga O, Boumelhem F, Koh J, Odoh SO, Woydziak ZR. Improving the Brightness of Pyronin Fluorophore Systems through Quantum-Mechanical Predictions. J Phys Chem Lett 2022; 13:8312-8318. [PMID: 36040023 PMCID: PMC10543078 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c02287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The pyronin class of fluorophores serves a critical role in numerous imaging applications, particularly involving preferential staining of RNA through base pair intercalation. Despite this important role in molecular staining applications, the same set of century-old pyronins (i.e., pyronin Y (PY) and pyronin B (PB)), which possess relatively low fluorophore brightness, are still predominantly being used due to the lack of methodology for generating enhanced variants. Here, we use TD-DFT calculations of interconversion energies between structures on the S1 surface as a preliminary means to evaluate fluorophore brightness for a proposed set of pyronins containing variable substitution patterns at the 2, 3, 6, and 7 positions. Using a nucleophilic aromatic substitution/hydride addition approach, we synthesized the same set of pyronins and demonstrate that quantum-mechanical computations are useful for predicting fluorophore performance. We produced the brightest series of pyronin fluorophores described to date, which possess considerable gains over PY and PB.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon Walls
- Department of Physical and Life Sciences, Nevada State College, Henderson, NV 89002
| | | | - Carlos Arambula
- Department of Physical and Life Sciences, Nevada State College, Henderson, NV 89002
| | - Alyssa Hall
- Department of Physical and Life Sciences, Nevada State College, Henderson, NV 89002
| | | | - Fadel Boumelhem
- Department of Physical and Life Sciences, Nevada State College, Henderson, NV 89002
| | - Jungjae Koh
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154
| | - Samuel O. Odoh
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557
| | - Zachary R. Woydziak
- Department of Physical and Life Sciences, Nevada State College, Henderson, NV 89002
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32
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de la Concepción JG, Cerdán L, Marcos-Arenal P, Burillo-Villalobos M, Fonseca-Bonilla N, Lizcano-Vaquero R, López-Cayuela MÁ, Caballero JA, Gómez F. Phot0, a plausible primeval pigment on Earth and rocky exoplanets. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:16979-16987. [PMID: 35731548 DOI: 10.1039/d2cp01703b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
In view of the existing controversy around the origin of the photosynthesis and, therefore, the first photosynthetic pigments, our work focuses on the theoretical study of a hypothetical first pigment, simpler than those existing today, that collects energy from solar radiation on Earth-like exoplanets. Our theoretical results show that there could exist geochemical conditions that allow the abiotic formation of a primeval pigment that might become sufficiently abundant in the early stages of habitable rocky exoplanets. These conditions would place this pigment before the appearance of life in a very young planet, thanks to chemical routes instead of biochemical transformations. Thus, our results may refute the currently accepted hypothesis that the complex biomolecules that allowed the photosynthesis to be carried out were synthesized through complex and evolved metabolic pathways. In addition, we show that the proposed primeval pigment, which we call Phot0, is also a precursor of the more evolved pigments known today on Earth and demonstrate, for the first time, an abiotic chemical route leading to tetrapyrroles not involving pyrrole derivatives. Our proposal places simple and very abundant raw materials in never-before-proposed geochemical conditions that lead to the formation of biomolecules of biological interest.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Luis Cerdán
- Instituto de Ciencia Molecular (ICMoL), Universidad de Valencia, 46071 Valencia, Spain
| | - Pablo Marcos-Arenal
- Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Ctra. de Ajalvir km. 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain.
| | | | - Nuria Fonseca-Bonilla
- Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Ctra. de Ajalvir km. 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain.
| | - Rubén Lizcano-Vaquero
- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain
| | - María-Ángeles López-Cayuela
- Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA), Atmospheric Research and Instrumentation Branch, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain
| | - José A Caballero
- Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), European Space Astronomy Centre, Camino bajo del Castillo, 28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
| | - Felipe Gómez
- Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Ctra. de Ajalvir km. 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain.
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33
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Mikalčiūtė A, Gelzinis A, Mačernis M, Büchel C, Robert B, Valkunas L, Chmeliov J. Structure-based model of fucoxanthin-chlorophyll protein complex: Calculations of chlorophyll electronic couplings. J Chem Phys 2022; 156:234101. [PMID: 35732526 DOI: 10.1063/5.0092154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Diatoms are a group of marine algae that are responsible for a significant part of global oxygen production. Adapted to life in an aqueous environment dominated by the blue-green light, their major light-harvesting antennae-fucoxanthin-chlorophyll protein complexes (FCPs)-exhibit different pigment compositions than of plants. Despite extensive experimental studies, until recently the theoretical description of excitation energy dynamics in these complexes was limited by the lack of high-resolution structural data. In this work, we use the recently resolved crystallographic information of the FCP complex from Phaeodactylum tricornutum diatom [Wang et al., Science 363, 6427 (2019)] and quantum chemistry-based calculations to evaluate the chlorophyll transition dipole moments, atomic transition charges from electrostatic potential, and the inter-chlorophyll couplings in this complex. The obtained structure-based excitonic couplings form the foundation for any modeling of stationary or time-resolved spectroscopic data. We also calculate the inter-pigment Förster energy transfer rates and identify two quickly equilibrating chlorophyll clusters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Austėja Mikalčiūtė
- Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio Avenue 9, LT-10222 Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Andrius Gelzinis
- Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio Avenue 9, LT-10222 Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Mindaugas Mačernis
- Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio Avenue 9, LT-10222 Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Claudia Büchel
- Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue Straße 9, 60438 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Bruno Robert
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Leonas Valkunas
- Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio Avenue 9, LT-10222 Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Jevgenij Chmeliov
- Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, Saulėtekio Avenue 9, LT-10222 Vilnius, Lithuania
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34
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Ciuti S, Agostini A, Barbon A, Bortolus M, Paulsen H, Di Valentin M, Carbonera D. Magnetophotoselection in the Investigation of Excitonically Coupled Chromophores: The Case of the Water-Soluble Chlorophyll Protein. MOLECULES (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 27:molecules27123654. [PMID: 35744779 PMCID: PMC9227413 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27123654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Revised: 06/01/2022] [Accepted: 06/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
A magnetophotoselection (MPS) investigation of the photoexcited triplet state of chlorophyll a both in a frozen organic solvent and in a protein environment, provided by the water-soluble chlorophyll protein (WSCP) of Lepidium virginicum, is reported. The MPS experiment combines the photoselection achieved by exciting with linearly polarized light with the magnetic selection of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, allowing the determination of the relative orientation of the optical transition dipole moment and the zero-field splitting tensor axes in both environments. We demonstrate the robustness of the proposed methodology for a quantitative description of the excitonic interactions among pigments. The orientation of the optical transition dipole moments determined by the EPR analysis in WSCP, identified as an appropriate model system, are in excellent agreement with those calculated in the point-dipole approximation. In addition, MPS provides information on the electronic properties of the triplet state, localized on a single chlorophyll a pigment of the protein cluster, in terms of orientation of the zero-field splitting tensor axes in the molecular frame.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susanna Ciuti
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy; (S.C.); (A.A.); (A.B.); (M.B.)
| | - Alessandro Agostini
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy; (S.C.); (A.A.); (A.B.); (M.B.)
- Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Plant Molecular Biology, Branišovská 1160/31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Antonio Barbon
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy; (S.C.); (A.A.); (A.B.); (M.B.)
| | - Marco Bortolus
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy; (S.C.); (A.A.); (A.B.); (M.B.)
| | - Harald Paulsen
- Institute of Molecular Physiology, Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Johann-Joachim Becher-Weg 7, 55128 Mainz, Germany;
| | - Marilena Di Valentin
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy; (S.C.); (A.A.); (A.B.); (M.B.)
- Correspondence: (M.D.V.); (D.C.); Tel.: +39-0498275139 (M.D.V.); +39-0498275144 (D.C.)
| | - Donatella Carbonera
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy; (S.C.); (A.A.); (A.B.); (M.B.)
- Correspondence: (M.D.V.); (D.C.); Tel.: +39-0498275139 (M.D.V.); +39-0498275144 (D.C.)
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35
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Falamaş A, Petran A, Hada AM, Bende A. Dopamine Photochemical Behaviour under UV Irradiation. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23105483. [PMID: 35628293 PMCID: PMC9141693 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23105483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2022] [Revised: 05/10/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/10/2022] Open
Abstract
To understand the photochemical behaviour of the polydopamine polymer in detail, one would also need to know the behaviour of its building blocks. The electronic absorption, as well as the fluorescence emission and excitation spectra of the dopamine were experimentally and theoretically investigated considering time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and first-principles quantum theory methods. The shape of the experimental absorption spectra obtained for different dopamine species with standard, zwitterionic, protonated, and deprotonated geometries was interpreted by considering the advanced equation-of-motion coupled-cluster theory of DLPNO-STEOM. Dynamical properties such as fluorescence lifetimes or quantum yield were also experimentally investigated and compared with theoretically predicted transition rates based on Fermi's Golden Rule-like equation. The results show that the photochemical behaviour of dopamine is strongly dependent on the concentration of dopamine, whereas in the case of a high concentration, the zwitterionic form significantly affects the shape of the spectrum. On the other hand, the solvent pH is also a determining factor for the absorption, but especially for the fluorescence spectrum, where at lower pH (5.5), the protonated and, at higher pH (8.0), the deprotonated forms influence the shape of the spectra. Quantum yield measurements showed that, besides the radiative deactivation mechanism characterized by a relatively small QY value, non-radiative deactivation channels are very important in the relaxation process of the electronic excited states of different dopamine species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Falamaş
- National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Donat Street, No. 67-103, 400293 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (A.F.); (A.P.)
| | - Anca Petran
- National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Donat Street, No. 67-103, 400293 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (A.F.); (A.P.)
| | - Alexandru-Milentie Hada
- Nanobiophotonics and Laser Microspectroscopy Center, Interdisciplinary Research Institute in Bio-Nano-Sciences, Babes-Bolyai University, 42 T. Laurian Str., 400271 Cluj-Napoca, Romania;
- Faculty of Physics, Babes-Bolyai University, 1 M. Kogalniceanu Str., 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Attila Bende
- National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Donat Street, No. 67-103, 400293 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (A.F.); (A.P.)
- Correspondence:
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36
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Cerdán L, Roca-Sanjuán D. Reconstruction of Nuclear Ensemble Approach Electronic Spectra Using Probabilistic Machine Learning. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:3052-3064. [PMID: 35481363 PMCID: PMC9097286 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The theoretical prediction of molecular electronic spectra by means of quantum mechanical (QM) computations is fundamental to gain a deep insight into many photophysical and photochemical processes. A computational strategy that is attracting significant attention is the so-called Nuclear Ensemble Approach (NEA), that relies on generating a representative ensemble of nuclear geometries around the equilibrium structure and computing the vertical excitation energies (ΔE) and oscillator strengths (f) and phenomenologically broadening each transition with a line-shaped function with empirical full-width δ. Frequently, the choice of δ is carried out by visually finding the trade-off between artificial vibronic features (small δ) and over-smoothing of electronic signatures (large δ). Nevertheless, this approach is not satisfactory, as it relies on a subjective perception and may lead to spectral inaccuracies overall when the number of sampled configurations is limited due to an excessive computational burden (high-level QM methods, complex systems, solvent effects, etc.). In this work, we have developed and tested a new approach to reconstruct NEA spectra, dubbed GMM-NEA, based on the use of Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs), a probabilistic machine learning algorithm, that circumvents the phenomenological broadening assumption and, in turn, the use of δ altogether. We show that GMM-NEA systematically outperforms other data-driven models to automatically select δ overall for small datasets. In addition, we report the use of an algorithm to detect anomalous QM computations (outliers) that can affect the overall shape and uncertainty of the NEA spectra. Finally, we apply GMM-NEA to predict the photolysis rate for HgBrOOH, a compound involved in Earth's atmospheric chemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis Cerdán
- Institut de Ciència Molecular, Universitat de València, València 46071, Spain
| | - Daniel Roca-Sanjuán
- Institut de Ciència Molecular, Universitat de València, València 46071, Spain
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37
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Do TN, Nguyen HL, Caffarri S, Tan HS. Two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy of the Q x to Q y relaxation of chlorophylls a in photosystem II core complex. J Chem Phys 2022; 156:145102. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0079500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Using two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy, we measured the Qx to Qy transfer dynamics of the chlorophyll a (Chl a) manifold in the photosystem II (PSII) monomeric core complex from Arabidopsis thaliana. A PSII monomeric core consists of 35 Chls a and no Chl b, thus allowing for a clear window to study Chl a Qx dynamics in a large pigment-protein complex. Initial excitation in the Qx band results in a transfer to the Qy band in less than 60 fs. Upon the ultrafast transfer, regardless of the excitation frequency within the Qx band, the quasi-transient absorption spectra are very similar. This observation indicates that Chl a’s Qx to Qy transfer is not frequency selective. Using a simple model, we determined that this is not due to the lifetime broadening of the ultrafast transfer but predominantly due to a lack of correlation between the PSII core complex’s Chl a Qx and Qy bands. We suggest the origin to be the intrinsic loss of correlation during the Qx to Qy internal conversion as observed in previous studies of molecular Chl a dissolved in solvents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thanh Nhut Do
- Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore, 637371
| | - Hoang Long Nguyen
- Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore, 637371
| | - Stefano Caffarri
- Aix Marseille Université, CEA, CNRS, BIAM, UMR7265, LGBP Team, 13009 Marseille, France
| | - Howe-Siang Tan
- Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore, 637371
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38
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Cignoni E, Slama V, Cupellini L, Mennucci B. The atomistic modeling of light-harvesting complexes from the physical models to the computational protocol. J Chem Phys 2022; 156:120901. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0086275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The function of light-harvesting complexes is determined by a complex network of dynamic interactions among all the different components: the aggregate of pigments, the protein, and the surrounding environment. Complete and reliable predictions on these types of composite systems can be only achieved with an atomistic description. In the last few decades, there have been important advances in the atomistic modeling of light-harvesting complexes. These advances have involved both the completeness of the physical models and the accuracy and effectiveness of the computational protocols. In this Perspective, we present an overview of the main theoretical and computational breakthroughs attained so far in the field, with particular focus on the important role played by the protein and its dynamics. We then discuss the open problems in their accurate modeling that still need to be addressed. To illustrate an effective computational workflow for the modeling of light harvesting complexes, we take as an example the plant antenna complex CP29 and its H111N mutant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edoardo Cignoni
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, University of Pisa, via G. Moruzzi 13, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Vladislav Slama
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, University of Pisa, via G. Moruzzi 13, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Cupellini
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, University of Pisa, via G. Moruzzi 13, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Benedetta Mennucci
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, University of Pisa, via G. Moruzzi 13, 56124 Pisa, Italy
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39
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Neese F. Software update: The
ORCA
program system—Version 5.0. WIRES COMPUTATIONAL MOLECULAR SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/wcms.1606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Frank Neese
- Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung Mülheim an der Ruhr Germany
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40
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ZHU ZHE, Higashi M, Saito S. Excited states of chlorophyll a and b in solution by time-dependent density functional theory. J Chem Phys 2022; 156:124111. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0083395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The ground state and excited state electronic properties of chlorophyll (Chl) a and Chl b in diethyl ether, acetone, and ethanol solutions are investigated using quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical calculations with density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT). Although the DFT/TDDFT methods are widely used, the electronic structures of molecules, especially large molecules, calculated with these methods are known to be strongly dependent on the functionals and the parameters used in functionals. Here, we optimize the range-separated parameter, µ, of the CAM-B3LYP functional of Chl a and Chl b to reproduce the experimental excitation energy differences of these Chl molecules in solution. The optimal values of µ for Chl a and Chl b are smaller than the default value of µ and that for bacteriochlorophyll a, indicating the change in electronic distribution, i.e., an increase in electron delocalization, within the molecule. We find that the electronic distribution of Chl b with an extra formyl group is different from that of Chl a. We also find that the polarity of solution and hydrogen bond cause the decrease in the excitation energies and the increase in the widths of excitation energy distributions of Chl a and Chl b. The present results are expected to be useful for understanding the electronic properties of each pigment molecule in a local heterogeneous environment, which will play an important role in the excitation energy transfer in light-harvesting complex II.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Masahiro Higashi
- Department of Molecular Engineering, Kyoto University - Katsura Campus, Japan
| | - Shinji Saito
- Department of Theoretical and Computational Molecular Science, Institute for Molecular Science, Japan
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41
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Götze JP, Anders F, Petry S, Felix Witte J, Lokstein H. Spectral Characterization of the Main Pigments in the Plant Photosynthetic Apparatus by Theory and Experiment. Chem Phys 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chemphys.2022.111517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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42
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Li M, Kobayashi R, Amos RD, Ford MJ, Reimers JR. Density functionals with asymptotic-potential corrections are required for the simulation of spectroscopic properties of materials. Chem Sci 2022; 13:1492-1503. [PMID: 35222934 PMCID: PMC8809424 DOI: 10.1039/d1sc03738b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 12/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Five effects of correction of the asymptotic potential error in density functionals are identified that significantly improve calculated properties of molecular excited states involving charge-transfer character. Newly developed materials-science computational methods are used to demonstrate how these effects manifest in materials spectroscopy. Connection is made considering chlorophyll-a as a paradigm for molecular spectroscopy, 22 iconic materials as paradigms for 3D materials spectroscopy, and the VN - defect in hexagonal boron nitride as an example of the spectroscopy of defects in 2D materials pertaining to nanophotonics. Defects can equally be thought of as being "molecular" and "materials" in nature and hence bridge the relms of molecular and materials spectroscopies. It is concluded that the density functional HSE06, currently considered as the standard for accurate calculations of materials spectroscopy, should be replaced, in most instances, by the computationally similar but asymptotically corrected CAM-B3LYP functional, with some specific functionals for materials-use only providing further improvements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Musen Li
- International Centre for Quantum and Molecular Structures and Department of Physics, Shanghai University Shanghai 200444 China
| | - Rika Kobayashi
- ANU Supercomputer Facility Leonard Huxley Bldg. 56, Mills Rd Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
| | - Roger D Amos
- ANU Supercomputer Facility Leonard Huxley Bldg. 56, Mills Rd Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
| | - Michael J Ford
- University of Technology Sydney, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ultimo New South Wales 2007 Australia
| | - Jeffrey R Reimers
- International Centre for Quantum and Molecular Structures and Department of Physics, Shanghai University Shanghai 200444 China
- University of Technology Sydney, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ultimo New South Wales 2007 Australia
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43
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Alkhatib Q, Helal W, Marashdeh A. Accurate predictions of the electronic excited states of BODIPY based dye sensitizers using spin-component-scaled double-hybrid functionals: a TD-DFT benchmark study. RSC Adv 2022; 12:1704-1717. [PMID: 35425182 PMCID: PMC8978916 DOI: 10.1039/d1ra08795a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2021] [Accepted: 01/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The vertical excitation energies of 13 BODIPY based dye sensitizers are benchmarked by means of TD-DFT, using 36 functionals from different DFT rungs. Most TD-DFT results were found to overestimate the excitation energies, and show mean absolute error (MAE) values in the range 0.2-0.5 eV. The dispersion-corrected, spin-component-scaled, double-hybrid (DSD) functionals DSD-BLYP and DSD-PBEP86 were found to have the smallest MAE values of 0.083 eV and 0.106 eV, respectively, which is close to the range of average errors found in the more expensive coupled-cluster methods. Moreover, DSD-BLYP and DSD-PBEP86 functionals show excellent consistency and quality of results (standard deviation = 0.048 eV and 0.069 eV respectively). However, the range separated hybrid (RSH) and the range separated double hybrid (RSDH) functionals were found to provide the best predictability (linear determination coefficient R 2 > 0.97 eV).
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Affiliation(s)
- Qabas Alkhatib
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Jordan Amman 11 942 Jordan
| | - Wissam Helal
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Jordan Amman 11 942 Jordan
| | - Ali Marashdeh
- Department of Chemistry, Al-Balqa Applied University 19 117 Al-Salt Jordan
- Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Gorlaeus Laboratories, Leiden University P. O. Box 9502 2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands
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44
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Zahn C, Stensitzki T, Heyne K. Femtosecond anisotropy excitation spectroscopy to disentangle the Q x and Q y absorption in chlorophyll a. Chem Sci 2022; 13:12426-12432. [DOI: 10.1039/d2sc03538c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Accepted: 09/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Femtosecond anisotropy excitation spectroscopy is a powerful tool for unraveling contributions of electronic transitions. Here, we applied it to chlorophyll a, identifying the contribution of Qx and Qy transitions within its absorption spectrum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clark Zahn
- Department of Physics, Free University Berlin, Arnimallee 14, D-14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Till Stensitzki
- Department of Physics, Free University Berlin, Arnimallee 14, D-14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Karsten Heyne
- Department of Physics, Free University Berlin, Arnimallee 14, D-14195 Berlin, Germany
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45
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Reiter S, Bäuml L, Hauer J, de Vivie-Riedle R. Q-Band relaxation in chlorophyll: new insights from multireference quantum dynamics. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:27212-27223. [DOI: 10.1039/d2cp02914f] [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 ultrafast relaxation within the Q-bands of chlorophyll plays a crucial role in photosynthetic light-harvesting. We investigate this process via nuclear and electronic quantum dynamics on multireference potential energy surfaces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Reiter
- Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Butenandtstr. 11, 81377 Munich, Germany
| | - Lena Bäuml
- Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Butenandtstr. 11, 81377 Munich, Germany
| | - Jürgen Hauer
- Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstr. 4, 85747 Garching, Germany
| | - Regina de Vivie-Riedle
- Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Butenandtstr. 11, 81377 Munich, Germany
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46
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Affiliation(s)
- Marvin H. Lechner
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Frank Neese
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
| | - Róbert Izsák
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, USA
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47
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Sirohiwal A, Pantazis DA. Electrostatic profiling of photosynthetic pigments: implications for directed spectral tuning. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:24677-24684. [PMID: 34708851 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp02580e] [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
Photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes harvest solar energy with a high quantum efficiency. Protein scaffolds are known to tune the spectral properties of embedded pigments principally through structured electrostatic environments. Although the physical nature of electrostatic tuning is straightforward, the precise spatial principles of electrostatic preorganization remain poorly explored for different protein matrices and incompletely characterized with respect to the intrinsic properties of different photosynthetic pigments. In this work, we study the electronic structure features associated with the lowest excited state of a series of eight naturally occurring (bacterio)chlorophylls and pheophytins to describe the precise topological differences in electrostatic potentials and hence determine intrinsic differences in the expected mode and impact of electrostatic tuning. The difference electrostatic potentials between the ground and first excited states are used as fingerprints. Both the spatial profile and the propensity for spectral tuning are found to be unique for each pigment, indicating spatially and directionally distinct modes of electrostatic tuning. The results define a specific partitioning of the protein matrix around each pigment as an aid to identify regions with a maximal impact on spectral tuning and have direct implications for dimensionality reduction in protein design and engineering. Thus, a quantum mechanical basis is provided for understanding, predicting, and ultimately designing sequence-modified or pigment-exchanged biological systems, as suggested for selected examples of pigment-reconstituted proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhishek Sirohiwal
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
| | - Dimitrios A Pantazis
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
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48
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Fehér PP, Madarász Á, Stirling A. Multiscale Modeling of Electronic Spectra Including Nuclear Quantum Effects. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:6340-6352. [PMID: 34582200 PMCID: PMC8515811 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Theoretical prediction of electronic absorption spectra without input from experiments is no easy feat, as it requires addressing all of the factors that affect line shapes. In practice, however, the methodologies are limited to treat these ingredients only to a certain extent. Here, we present a multiscale protocol that addresses the temperature, solvent, and nuclear quantum effects as well as anharmonicity and the reconstruction of the final spectra from individual transitions. First, quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) molecular dynamics is conducted to obtain trajectories of solute-solvent configurations, from which the corresponding quantum-corrected ensembles are generated through the generalized smoothed trajectory analysis (GSTA). The optical spectra of the ensembles are then produced by calculating vertical transitions using time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) with implicit solvation. To obtain the final spectral shapes, the stick spectra from TDDFT are convoluted with Gaussian kernels where the half-widths are determined by a statistically motivated strategy. We have tested our method by calculating the UV-vis spectra of a recently discovered acridine photocatalyst in two redox states. Vibronic progressions and broadenings due to the finite lifetime of the excited states are not included in the methodology yet. Nuclear quantization affects the relative peak intensities and widths, which is necessary to reproduce the experimental spectrum. We have also found that using only the optimized geometry of each molecule works surprisingly well if a proper empirical broadening factor is applied. This is explained by the rigidity of the conjugated chromophore moieties of the selected molecules, which are mainly responsible for the excitations in the spectra. In contrast, we have also shown that other parts of the molecules are flexible enough to feature anharmonicities that impair the use of other techniques such as Wigner sampling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Péter P. Fehér
- Institute
of Organic Chemistry, Research Centre for
Natural Sciences, Magyar tudósok krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Ádám Madarász
- Institute
of Organic Chemistry, Research Centre for
Natural Sciences, Magyar tudósok krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - András Stirling
- Institute
of Organic Chemistry, Research Centre for
Natural Sciences, Magyar tudósok krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- Department
of Chemistry, Eszterházy Károly
University, Leányka
u. 6, 3300 Eger, Hungary
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Srivastava R. Physicochemical, antioxidant properties of carotenoids and its optoelectronic and interaction studies with chlorophyll pigments. Sci Rep 2021; 11:18365. [PMID: 34526535 PMCID: PMC8443628 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-97747-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2021] [Accepted: 07/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The physicochemical and antioxidant properties of seven carotenoids: antheraxanthin, β-carotene, neoxanthin, peridinin, violaxanthin, xanthrophyll and zeaxanthin were studied by theoretical means. Then the Optoelectronic properties and interaction of chlorophyll-carotenoid complexes are analysed by TDDFT and IGMPLOT. Global reactivity descriptors for carotenoids and chlorophyll (Chla, Chlb) are calculated via conceptual density functional theory (CDFT). The higher HOMO-LUMO (HL) gap indicated structural stability of carotenoid, chlorophyll and chlorophyll-carotenoid complexes. The chemical hardness for carotenoids and Chlorophyll is found to be lower in the solvent medium than in the gas phase. Results showed that carotenoids can be used as good reactive nucleophile due to lower µ and ω. As proton affinities (PAs) are much lower than the bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs), it is anticipated that direct antioxidant activity in these carotenoids is mainly due to the sequential proton loss electron transfer (SPLET) mechanism with dominant solvent effects. Also lower PAs of carotenoid suggest that antioxidant activity by the SPLET mechanism should be a result of a balance between proclivities to transfer protons. Reaction rate constant with Transition-State Theory (TST) were estimated for carotenoid-Chlorophyll complexes in gas phase. Time dependent Density Functional Theory (TDDFT) showed that all the chlorophyll (Chla, Chlb)-carotenoid complexes show absorption wavelength in the visible region. The lower S1-T1 adiabatic energy gap indicated ISC transition from S1 to T1 state.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruby Srivastava
- CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India.
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