Photosensitization of triplet carotenoid in photosynthetic light-harvesting complex of photosystem II

R. Nechushtai, J. P. Thornber*, L. K. Patterson, R. W. Fessenden, H. Levanon

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

A laser photolysis study, on the nanosecond time scale, has been carried out on the major light-harvesting chlorophyll-protein complex of photosystem II (LHC IIβ). The transient triplet absorption of the isolated LHC IIβ has been compared to those of its constituent chromophores in dilute micellar aqueous solutions, namely, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, chlorophyll a + chlorophyll b, and chlorophyll a + β-carotene. The results indicate that the carotenoid in the LHC IIβ is photosensitized by triplet chlorophyll a and that the decay of the transient triplet absorption exhibits two transients, one in the ∼50-ns range and the other in the ∼10-μs time scales. The former transient is light-intensity dependent and is attributed to an annihilation process between two triplets of chlorophyll a, while the latter is due to the decay of the triplet carotenoid to its ground state.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1165-1168
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry
Volume92
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 1988
Externally publishedYes

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