Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/175421
Title: Photosynthetic Light-Harvesting Is Tuned by the Heterogeneous Polarizable Environment of the Protein
Author: Curutchet Barat, Carles E.
Kongsted, Jacob
Muñoz-Losa, Aurora
Hossein-Nejad, Hoda
Scholes, Gregory D.
Mennucci, Benedetta
Keywords: Fotosíntesi
Química quàntica
Llum
Photosynthesis
Quantum chemistry
Light
Issue Date: 9-Mar-2011
Publisher: American Chemical Society
Abstract: In photosynthesis, special antenna proteins that contain multiple light-absorbing molecules (chromophores) are able to capture sunlight and transfer the excitation energy to reaction centers with almost 100% quantum efficiencies. The critical role of the protein scaffold in holding the appropriate arrangement of the chromophores is well established and can be intuitively understood given the need to keep optimal dipole−dipole interactions between the energy-transferring chromophores, as described by Förster theory more than 60 years ago. However, the question whether the protein structure can also play an active role by tuning such dipole−dipole interactions has not been answered so far, its effect being rather crudely described by simple screening factors related to the refractive index properties of the system. Here, we present a combined quantum chemical/molecular mechanical approach to compute electronic couplings that accounts for the heterogeneous dielectric nature of the protein−solvent environment in atomic detail. We apply the method to study the effect of dielectric heterogeneity in the energy migration properties of the PE545 principal light-harvesting antenna of the cryptomonad Rhodomonas CS24. We find that dielectric heterogeneity can profoundly tune by a factor up to 4 the energy migration rates between chromophore sites compared to the average continuum dielectric view that has historically been assumed. Our results indicate that engineering of the local dielectric environment can potentially be used to optimize artificial light-harvesting antenna systems.
Note: Versió postprint del document publicat a: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja110053y
It is part of: Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2011, vol. 133, num. 9, p. 3078-3084
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/175421
ISSN: 0002-7863
Appears in Collections:Articles publicats en revistes (Farmàcia, Tecnologia Farmacèutica i Fisicoquímica)

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