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Theoretical models of electrochromic and environmental effects on bacterio-chlorophylls and -pheophytins in reaction centers

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5455062

The primary charge separation in photosynthetic reaction centers (RC) is carried out by an array of (bacterio)chlorophylls arranged in close proximity. The recent x-ray structures of the RC complexes from Rhodopseudomonas viridis and Rhodobacter sphaeroides reveal two possible electron pathways for purple bacteria, only one of which is active. We have calculated the effects of hydrogen bonding and chemical modification (enolization) by nearby residues upon the optical spectra, reduction potentials, unpaired spin density distributions and charge densities of bacterio-chlorophylls (BChl) and -pheophytins (BPh). In addition, we have calculated the effect of generating the primary cation and anion products on the spectra of the accessory BChl and BPh pigments in the RC. At the present levels of refinement, x-ray structures of Rb. sphaerides, which contains BChls a, reveal a molecular architecture analogous to that of R. viridis, which is comprised of BChls b. Similar electrochromic shifts are thus predicted for the two species. 28 refs., 4 figs., 4 tabs.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA); Florida Univ., Gainesville (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76CH00016
OSTI ID:
5455062
Report Number(s):
BNL-40539; CONF-8709222-1; ON: DE88004441
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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