Near-Infrared Time-Resolved Study of the S1 State Dynamics of the Carotenoid Spheroidene

Femtosecond Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy of Linear Carotenoids

Femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS) and transient absorption data measured in a single experiment are used to determine the vibronic properties of the S1 state of linear carotenoids with different conjugation lengths. The Raman band corresponding to the C═C stretching mode in the S1 state peaks at 1799 cm-1 (neurosporene), 1802 cm-1 (spheroidene), and 1791 cm-1 (lycopene). Contrary to the ground state C═C mode, variation of the C═C stretching mode in the S1 state is small and does not follow a linear dependence on N. The lifetime of the Raman band matches the S1 decays obtained from transient absorption, confirming its S1 state origin. Direct comparison of transient absorption and FSRS signals allowed us to assign Raman signatures of nonrelaxed S1 and S0 states. For lycopene, FSRS data identified a component associated with a downshifted ground state C═C mode, which matches the dynamics of the S* signal observed in transient absorption data.

Low-Lying Excited States of Natural Carotenoids Viewed by Ab Initio Methods

Low-lying excited states of carotenoids (the optically dark 2A_g^- and bright 1B_u⁺) are deeply involved in energy transfer processes in photosynthetic antennas, such as light harvesting and non-photochemical quenching. Though any ab initio modeling of these phenomena has to rely on precise energies of the carotenoid electronic states, the accurate evaluation of these states remains a challenging problem due to their different natures. The paper aims to study the accuracy of the excitation energies of the low-lying excited states of certain open- and closed-chain carotenoids obtained by a state-of-the-art multireference approach for electronic structure calculation. Here, density matrix renormalization group SCF (DMRGSCF) and a perturbative approach based on driven similarity renormalization group second-order multireference perturbation theory (DSRG-MRPT2) were used to treat the static and dynamic correlation, respectively. Nuclear geometries of the electronic states were optimized with DFT-based approaches. It is demonstrated that spin-flip TD-DFT can replace multiconfigurational methods for the geometry optimization of the 2A_g^- state but not for the calculation of the excitation energy. Adiabatic excitation energies to the 1B_u⁺ state were shown to be within a margin of 1000 cm^-1 with an appropriate flow parameter value. Adiabatic excitation energies to the 2A_g^- state for the open-chain carotenoids lie within a range of experimental values (taking into account the broad range of experimental estimates); for the closed-chain ones, the error does not exceed 2000 cm^-1. Ab initio stationary (1A_g^- → 1B_u⁺) and transient (2A_g^- → 1B_u⁺) absorption spectra were modeled for violaxanthin and lycopene, and these spectra showed good agreement with the experimental ones both in terms of the vibronic structure and the transition energies.

Simulation of Ab Initio Optical Absorption Spectrum of β-Carotene with Fully Resolved S0 and S2 Vibrational Normal Modes

The electronic absorption spectrum of β-carotene (β-Car) is studied using quantum chemistry and quantum dynamics simulations. Vibrational normal modes were computed in optimized geometries of the electronic ground state S₀ and the optically bright excited S₂ state using the time-dependent density functional theory. By expressing the S₂-state normal modes in terms of the ground-state modes, we find that no one-to-one correspondence between the ground- and excited-state vibrational modes exists. Using the ab initio results, we simulated the β-Car absorption spectrum with all 282 vibrational modes in a model solvent at 300 K using the time-dependent Dirac-Frenkel variational principle and are able to qualitatively reproduce the full absorption line shape. By comparing the 282-mode model with the prominent 2-mode model, widely used to interpret carotenoid experiments, we find that the full 282-mode model better describes the high-frequency progression of carotenoid absorption spectra; hence, vibrational modes become highly mixed during the S₀ → S₂ optical excitation. The obtained results suggest that electronic energy dissipation is mediated by numerous vibrational modes.

Toward an Accurate Ab Initio Description of Low-Lying Singlet Excited States of Polyenes

The low-lying excited states of carotenoids play a crucial role in many important biophysical processes such as photosynthesis. Most of these excited states are strongly correlated, which makes them both challenging for a qualitative ab initio description and an engaging model system for trying out emerging multireference methods. Among these methods, driven similarity renormalization group (DSRG) and its perturbative version (DSRG-MRPT2) are especially attractive in terms of both accuracy and moderate numerical complexity. In this paper, we applied density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) followed by DSRG-MRPT2 for the calculation of vertical and adiabatic excitation energies into the 2A_g^-, 1B_u^-, and 1B_u⁺ electronic states of polyenes containing from 8 to 13 conjugating double bonds acting as a model for natural carotenoids. It was shown that the DSRG flow parameter should be adjusted to ensure both the energy convergence with respect to it and the agreement with the experimental data. With the increased flow parameter, the proposed combination of methods provides a reasonable agreement with the experiment. The deviations of the adiabatic excitation energies are less than 1000 cm^-1 for the 2A_g^- and less than 3000 cm^-1 for the excited states of the B_u symmetry, which in terms of accuracy significantly outperforms the N-electron valence state perturbation theory. At the same time, DSRG-MRPT2 is shown to be robust with respect to variation of quality of the DMRG reference wave function such as the orbital optimization or the number of electronic states in the averaging.

Ab Initio Study of Low-Lying Excited States of Carotenoid-Derived Polyenes

Knowledge about excited states of carotenoids is essential for understanding photophysical processes underlying photosynthesis. However, due to the presence of a large number of optically dark states, experimental study of the excited-state manifold is limited to a significant extent. In this paper, we apply high-level ab initio quantum chemical methods to study the low-lying excited states of polyenes containing from 8 to 13 conjugated double bonds, which serve as a model for natural carotenoids. Vertical and adiabatic excitation energies from the ground 1A_g^- state to the excited 2A_g^-, 1B_u⁺, and 1B_u^- states were evaluated by means of density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) with NEVPT2 perturbative correction. The energies of all excited states are highly sensitive to nuclear geometry, especially the 2A_g^- state. Thus, the 2A_g^- and 1B_u⁺ states interchange their relative positions upon geometry relaxation, while the vertical excitation energy to the 2A_g^- state is rather high. At the same time, the 1B_u^- state energy is shown to be higher than other studied excited states at any geometry. With relaxed geometries of the excited states, absorption and transient absorption spectra were calculated within the Franck-Condon approximation bridging the gap between experimental spectroscopic data and computational results.

Carotenoid-to-(bacterio)chlorophyll energy transfer in LH2 antenna complexes from Rba. sphaeroides reconstituted with non-native (bacterio)chlorophylls

Six variants of the LH2 antenna complex from Rba. sphaeroides, comprising the native B800-B850, B800-free LH2 (B850) and four LH2s with various (bacterio)chlorophylls reconstituted into the B800 site, have been investigated with static and time-resolved optical spectroscopies at room temperature and at 77 K. The study particularly focused on how reconstitution of a non-native (bacterio)chlorophylls affects excitation energy transfer between the naturally bound carotenoid spheroidene and artificially substituted pigments in the B800 site. Results demonstrate there is no apparent trend in the overall energy transfer rate from spheroidene to B850 bacteriochlorophyll a; however, a trend in energy transfer rate from the spheroidene S₁ state to Q_y of the B800 (bacterio)chlorophylls is noticeable. These outcomes were applied to test the validity of previously proposed energy values of the spheroidene S₁ state, supporting a value in the vicinity of 13,400 cm^-1 (746 nm).

Carotenoid Nuclear Reorganization and Interplay of Bright and Dark Excited States

We report quantum chemical calculations using multireference perturbation theory (MRPT) with the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) plus photothermal deflection spectroscopy measurements to investigate the manifold of carotenoid excited states and establish their energies relative to the bright state (S₂) as a function of nuclear reorganization. We conclude that the primary photophysics and function of carotenoids are determined by interplay of only the bright (S₂) and lowest-energy dark (S₁) states. The lowest-lying dark state, far from being energetically distinguishable from the lowest-lying bright state along the entire excited-state nuclear reorganization pathway, is instead computed to be either the second or first excited state depending on what equilibrium geometry is considered. This result suggests that, rather than there being a dark intermediate excited state bridging a non-negligible energy gap from the lowest-lying dark state to the lowest-lying bright state, there is in fact no appreciable energy gap to bridge following photoexcitation. Instead, excited-state nuclear reorganization constitutes the bridge from S₂ to S₁, in the sense that these two states attain energetic degeneracy along this pathway.

Addition of a Carbonyl End Group Increases the Rate of Excited-State Decay in a Carotenoid via Conjugation Extension and Symmetry Breaking

Steady-state absorption, transient absorption, and transient grating spectroscopies were employed to elucidate the role of a conjugated carbonyl group in the photophysics of carotenoids. Spheroidenone and spheroidene have similar molecular structures and differ only in an additional carbonyl group in spheroidenone. Comparison of the optical responses of these two molecules under similar experimental conditions was used to understand the role of this carbonyl group in the structure. It was found that the carbonyl group has two main effects: first, it dramatically increases the depopulation rate of the excited states of the molecule. The lifetimes of all the excited states of spheroidenone were found to be almost half of the ones for spheroidene. Second, the presence of the carbonyl group in the chain alters the decay mechanism to the symmetry-forbidden S₁ state of the molecule, so that the higher vibrational levels of the S₁ state are populated much more effectively. It was also revealed that for both molecules, the S₂/S _x → S₁(hot) → S₁ decay process is not purely sequential and follows a branched model.

Understanding/unravelling carotenoid excited singlet states

Carotenoids are essential light-harvesting pigments in natural photosynthesis. They absorb in the blue-green region of the solar spectrum and transfer the absorbed energy to (bacterio-)chlorophylls, and thus expand the wavelength range of light that is able to drive photosynthesis. This process is an example of singlet-singlet excitation energy transfer, and carotenoids serve to enhance the overall efficiency of photosynthetic light reactions. The photochemistry and photophysics of carotenoids have often been interpreted by referring to those of simple polyene molecules that do not possess any functional groups. However, this may not always be wise because carotenoids usually have a number of functional groups that induce the variety of photochemical behaviours in them. These differences can also make the interpretation of the singlet excited states of carotenoids very complicated. In this article, we review the properties of the singlet excited states of carotenoids with the aim of producing as coherent a picture as possible of what is currently known and what needs to be learned.

Effects of tunable excitation in carotenoids explained by the vibrational energy relaxation approach

Carotenoids are fundamental building blocks of natural light harvesters with convoluted and ultrafast energy deactivation networks. In order to disentangle such complex relaxation dynamics, several studies focused on transient absorption measurements and their dependence on the pump wavelength. However, such findings are inconclusive and sometimes contradictory. In this study, we compare internal conversion dynamics in [Formula: see text]-carotene, pumped at the first, second, and third vibronic progression peak. Instead of employing data fitting algorithms based on global analysis of the transient absorption spectra, we apply a fully quantum mechanical model to treat the high-frequency symmetric carbon-carbon (C=C and C-C) stretching modes explicitly. This model successfully describes observed population dynamics as well as spectral line shapes in their time-dependence and allows us to reach two conclusions: Firstly, the broadening of the induced absorption upon excess excitation is an effect of vibrational cooling in the first excited state ([Formula: see text]). Secondly, the internal conversion rate between the second excited state ([Formula: see text]) and [Formula: see text] crucially depends on the relative curve displacement. The latter point serves as a new perspective on solvent- and excitation wavelength-dependent experiments and lifts contradictions between several studies found in literature.

Quantum Redirection of Antenna Absorption to Photosynthetic Reaction Centers

The early steps of photosynthesis involve the photoexcitation of reaction centers (RCs) and light-harvesting (LH) units. Here, we show that the historically overlooked excitonic delocalization across RC and LH pigments results in a redistribution of absorption amplitudes that benefits the absorption cross section of the optical bands associated with the RC of several species. While we prove that this redistribution is robust to the microscopic details of the dephasing between these units in the purple bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum, we are able to show that the redistribution witnesses a more fragile, but persistent, coherent population dynamics which directs excitations from the LH toward the RC units under incoherent illumination and physiological conditions. Even though the redirection does not seem to affect importantly the overall efficiency in photosynthesis, stochastic optimization allows us to delineate clear guidelines and develop simple analytic expressions in order to amplify the coherent redirection in artificial nanostructures.

Quenching Capabilities of Long-Chain Carotenoids in Light-Harvesting-2 Complexes from Rhodobacter sphaeroides with an Engineered Carotenoid Synthesis Pathway

Six light-harvesting-2 complexes (LH2) from genetically modified strains of the purple photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter (Rb.) sphaeroides were studied using static and ultrafast optical methods and resonance Raman spectroscopy. These strains were engineered to incorporate carotenoids for which the number of conjugated groups (N = N_C=C + N_C=O) varies from 9 to 15. The Rb. sphaeroides strains incorporate their native carotenoids spheroidene (N = 10) and spheroidenone (N = 11), as well as longer-chain analogues including spirilloxanthin (N = 13) and diketospirilloxantion (N = 15) normally found in Rhodospirillum rubrum. Measurements of the properties of the carotenoid first singlet excited state (S₁) in antennas from the Rb. sphaeroides set show that carotenoid-bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl a) interactions are similar to those in LH2 complexes from various other bacterial species and thus are not significantly impacted by differences in polypeptide composition. Instead, variations in carotenoid-to-BChl a energy transfer are primarily regulated by the N-determined energy of the carotenoid S₁ excited state, which for long-chain (N ≥ 13) carotenoids is not involved in energy transfer. Furthermore, the role of the long-chain carotenoids switches from a light-harvesting supporter (via energy transfer to BChl a) to a quencher of the BChl a S₁ excited state B850*. This quenching is manifested as a substantial (∼2-fold) reduction of the B850* lifetime and the B850* fluorescence quantum yield for LH2 housing the longest carotenoids.

Effects of Molecular Symmetry on the Electronic Transitions in Carotenoids

The aim of this work is the verification of symmetry effects on the electronic absorption spectra of carotenoids. The symmetry breaking in cis-β-carotenes and in carotenoids with nonlinear π-electron system is of virtually no effect on the dark transitions in these pigments, in spite of the loss of the inversion center and evident changes in their electronic structure. In the cis isomers, the S2 state couples with the higher excited states and the extent of this coupling depends on the position of the cis bend. A confrontation of symmetry properties of carotenoids with their electronic absorption and IR and Raman spectra shows that they belong to the C1 or C2 but not the C2h symmetry group, as commonly assumed. In these realistic symmetries all the electronic transitions are symmetry-allowed and the absence of some transitions, such as the dark S0 → S1 transition, must have another physical origin. Most likely it is a severe deformation of the carotenoid molecule in the S1 state, unachievable directly from the ground state, which means that the Franck-Condon factors for a vertical S0 → S1 transition are negligible because the final state is massively displaced along the vibrational coordinates. The implications of our findings have an impact on the understanding of the photophysics and functioning of carotenoids.

Carotenoid-induced non-photochemical quenching in the cyanobacterial chlorophyll synthase-HliC/D complex

Chl synthase (ChlG) is an important enzyme of the Chl biosynthetic pathway catalyzing attachment of phytol/geranylgeraniol tail to the chlorophyllide molecule. Here we have investigated the Flag-tagged ChlG (f.ChlG) in a complex with two different high-light inducible proteins (Hlips) HliD and HliC. The f.ChlG-Hlips complex binds a Chl a and three different carotenoids, β-carotene, zeaxanthin and myxoxanthophyll. Application of ultrafast time-resolved absorption spectroscopy performed at room and cryogenic temperatures revealed excited-state dynamics of complex-bound pigments. After excitation of Chl a in the complex, excited Chl a is efficiently quenched by a nearby carotenoid molecule via energy transfer from the Chl a Qy state to the carotenoid S1 state. The kinetic analysis of the spectroscopic data revealed that quenching occurs with a time constant of ~2ps and its efficiency is temperature independent. Even though due to its long conjugation myxoxanthophyll appears to be energetically best suited for role of Chl a quencher, based on comparative analysis and spectroscopic data we propose that β-carotene bound to Hlips acts as the quencher rather than myxoxanthophyll and zeaxanthin, which are bound at the f.ChlG and Hlips interface. The S1 state lifetime of the quencher has been determined to be 13ps at room temperature and 21ps at 77K. These results demonstrate that Hlips act as a conserved functional module that prevents photodamage of protein complexes during photosystem assembly or Chl biosynthesis.

Development of a femtosecond time-resolved near-IR multiplex stimulated Raman spectrometer in resonance with transitions in the 900–1550 nm region

A femtosecond time-resolved near-IR multiplex stimulated Raman spectrometer has been developed for investigating the structural dynamics in charge-transfer processes.

Carotenoids and Photosynthesis

Carotenoids are ubiquitous and essential pigments in photosynthesis. They absorb in the blue-green region of the solar spectrum and transfer the absorbed energy to (bacterio-)chlorophylls, and so expand the wavelength range of light that is able to drive photosynthesis. This is an example of singlet-singlet energy transfer, and so carotenoids serve to enhance the overall efficiency of photosynthetic light reactions. Carotenoids also act to protect photosynthetic organisms from the harmful effects of excess exposure to light. Triplet-triplet energy transfer from chlorophylls to carotenoids plays a key role in this photoprotective reaction. In the light-harvesting pigment-protein complexes from purple photosynthetic bacteria and chlorophytes, carotenoids have an additional role of structural stabilization of those complexes. In this article we review what is currently known about how carotenoids discharge these functions. The molecular architecture of photosynthetic systems will be outlined first to provide a basis from which to describe carotenoid photochemistry, which underlies most of their important functions in photosynthesis.

Functional characteristics of spirilloxanthin and keto-bearing Analogues in light-harvesting LH2 complexes from Rhodobacter sphaeroides with a genetically modified carotenoid synthesis pathway

Light-harvesting 2 (LH2) complexes from a genetically modified strain of the purple photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter (Rba.) sphaeroides were studied using static and ultrafast optical methods and resonance Raman spectroscopy. Carotenoid synthesis in the Rba. sphaeroides strain was engineered to redirect carotenoid production away from spheroidene into the spirilloxanthin synthesis pathway. The strain assembles LH2 antennas with substantial amounts of spirilloxanthin (total double-bond conjugation length N=13) if grown anaerobically and of keto-bearing long-chain analogs [2-ketoanhydrorhodovibrin (N=13), 2-ketospirilloxanthin (N=14) and 2,2'-diketospirilloxanthin (N=15)] if grown semi-aerobically (with ratios that depend on growth conditions). We present the photophysical, electronic, and vibrational properties of these carotenoids, both isolated in organic media and assembled within LH2 complexes. Measurements of excited-state energy transfer to the array of excitonically coupled bacteriochlorophyll a molecules (B850) show that the mean lifetime of the first singlet excited state (S1) of the long-chain (N≥13) carotenoids does not change appreciably between organic media and the protein environment. In each case, the S1 state appears to lie lower in energy than that of B850. The energy-transfer yield is ~0.4 in LH2 (from the strain grown aerobically or semi-aerobically), which is less than half that achieved for LH2 that contains short-chain (N≤11) analogues. Collectively, the results suggest that the S1 excited state of the long-chain (N≥13) carotenoids participates little if at all in carotenoid-to-BChl a energy transfer, which occurs predominantly via the carotenoid S2 excited state in these antennas.

How do surrounding environments influence the electronic and vibrational properties of spheroidene?

Absorption and Raman spectra of spheroidene dissolved in various organic solvents and bound to peripheral light-harvesting LH2 complexes from photosynthetic purple bacteria Rhodobacter (Rba.) sphaeroides 2.4.1 were measured. The results showed that the peak energies of absorption and C-C and C=C stretching Raman lines are linearly proportional to the polarizability of solvents, as has already been reported. When comparing these results with those measured on LH2 complexes, it was confirmed that spheroidene is surrounded by a media with high polarizability. However, the change in the spectral width of the Raman lines, which reflect vibrational decay time, cannot be explained simply by a similar dependence of solvent polarizability. The experimental results were analyzed using a potential theoretical model. Consequently, a systematic change in the Raman line widths in the ground state can be satisfactorily explained as a function of the viscosity of the surrounding media. Even when the absorption peaks appear at the same energy, the vibrational decay time of spheroidene in the LH2 complexes is approximately 15-20 % slower than that in organic solvents.

Tuning the spectroscopic properties of aryl carotenoids by slight changes in structure

Two carotenoids with aryl rings were studied by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy and theoretical computational methods, and the results were compared with those obtained from their nonaryl counterpart, β-carotene. Although isorenieratene has more conjugated C═C bonds than β-carotene, its effective conjugation length, Neff, is shorter than of β-carotene. This is evidenced by a longer S1 lifetime and higher S1 energy of isorenieratene compared to the values for β-carotene. On the other hand, although isorenieratene and renierapurpurin have the same π-electron conjugated chain structure, Neff is different for these two carotenoids. The S1 lifetime of renierapurpurin is shorter than that of isorenieratene, indicating a longer Neff for renierapurpurin. This conclusion is also consistent with a lower S1 energy of renierapurpurin compared to those of the other carotenoids. Density functional theory (DFT) was used to calculate equilibrium geometries of ground and excited states of all studied carotenoids. The terminal ring torsion in the ground state of isorenieratene (41°) is very close to that of β-carotene (45°), but equilibration of the bond lengths within the aryl rings indicates that the each aryl ring forms its own conjugated system. This results in partial detachment of the aryl rings from the overall conjugation making Neff of isorenieratene shorter than that of β-carotene. The different position of the methyl group at the aryl ring of renierapurpurin diminishes the aryl ring torsion to ∼20°. This planarization results in a longer Neff than that of isorenieratene, rationalizing the observed differences in spectroscopic properties.

Excited state lifetimes and energies of okenone and chlorobactene, exemplary keto and non-keto aryl carotenoids

Photophysical properties of two typical aryl carotenoids, okenone and chlorobactene, were studied with application of femtosecond and microsecond time-resolved absorption spectroscopies.

Ultrafast time-resolved vibrational spectroscopies of carotenoids in photosynthesis

This review discusses the application of time-resolved vibrational spectroscopies to the studies of carotenoids in photosynthesis. The focus is on the ultrafast time regime and the study of photophysics and photochemistry of carotenoids by femtosecond time-resolved stimulated Raman and four-wave mixing spectroscopies. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Vibrational spectroscopies and bioenergetic systems.

Combination of transient 2D-IR experiments and ab initio computations sheds light on the formation of the charge-transfer state in photoexcited carbonyl carotenoids

The excited state dynamics of carbonyl carotenoids is very complex because of the coupling of single- and doubly excited states and the possible involvement of intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) states. In this contribution we employ ultrafast infrared spectroscopy and theoretical computations to investigate the relaxation dynamics of trans-8'-apo-β-carotenal occurring on the picosecond time scale, after excitation in the S2 state. In a (slightly) polar solvent like chloroform, one-dimensional (T1D-IR) and two-dimensional (T2D-IR) transient infrared spectroscopy reveal spectral components with characteristic frequencies and lifetimes that are not observed in nonpolar solvents (cyclohexane). Combining experimental evidence with an analysis of CASPT2//CASSCF ground and excited state minima and energy profiles, complemented with TDDFT calculations in gas phase and in solvent, we propose a photochemical decay mechanism for this system where only the bright single-excited 1Bu(+) and the dark double-excited 2Ag(-) states are involved. Specifically, the initially populated 1Bu(+) relaxes toward 2Ag(-) in 200 fs. In a nonpolar solvent 2Ag(-) decays to the ground state (GS) in 25 ps. In polar solvents, distortions along twisting modes of the chain promote a repopulation of the 1Bu(+) state which then quickly relaxes to the GS (18 ps in chloroform). The 1Bu(+) state has a high electric dipole and is the main contributor to the charge-transfer state involved in the dynamics in polar solvents. The 2Ag(-) → 1Bu(+) population transfer is evidenced by a cross peak on the T2D-IR map revealing that the motions along the same stretching of the conjugated chain on the 2Ag(-) and 1Bu(+) states are coupled.

Relaxation mechanism of β-carotene from S2 (1Bu(+)) state to S1 (2Ag(-)) state: femtosecond time-resolved near-IR absorption and stimulated resonance Raman studies in 900-1550 nm region

Carotenoids have two major low-lying excited states, the second lowest (S2 (1Bu(+))) and the lowest (S1 (2Ag(-))) excited singlet states, both of which are suggested to be involved in the energy transfer processes in light-harvesting complexes. Studying vibrational dynamics of S2 carotenoids requires ultrafast time-resolved near-IR Raman spectroscopy, although it has much less sensitivity than visible Raman spectroscopy. In this study, the relaxation mechanism of β-carotene from the S2 state to the S1 state is investigated by femtosecond time-resolved multiplex near-IR absorption and stimulated Raman spectroscopy. The energy gap between the S2 and S1 states is estimated to be 6780 cm(-1) from near-IR transient absorption spectra. The near-IR stimulated Raman spectrum of S2 β-carotene show three bands at 1580, 1240, and 1050 cm(-1). When excess energy of 4000 cm(-1) is added, the S1 C═C stretch band shows a large upshift with a time constant of 0.2 ps. The fast upshift is explained by a model that excess energy generated by internal conversion from the S2 state to the S1 state is selectively accepted by one of the vibronic levels of the S1 state and is redistributed among all the vibrational modes.

Spectroscopic properties of the Chlorophyll a-Chlorophyll c 2-Peridinin-Protein-Complex (acpPC) from the coral symbiotic dinoflagellate Symbiodinium

Femtosecond time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy was performed on the chlorophyll a-chlorophyll c 2-peridinin-protein-complex (acpPC), a major light-harvesting complex of the coral symbiotic dinoflagellate Symbiodinium. The measurements were carried out on the protein as well on the isolated pigments in the visible and the near-infrared region at 77 K. The data were globally fit to establish inter-pigment energy transfer paths within the scaffold of the complex. In addition, microsecond flash photolysis analysis was applied to reveal photoprotective capabilities of carotenoids (peridinin and diadinoxanthin) in the complex, especially the ability to quench chlorophyll a triplet states. The results demonstrate that the majority of carotenoids and other accessory light absorbers such as chlorophyll c 2 are very well suited to support chlorophyll a in light harvesting. However, their performance in photoprotection in the acpPC is questionable. This is unusual among carotenoid-containing light-harvesting proteins and may explain the low resistance of the acpPC complex against photoinduced damage under even moderate light conditions.

Health protective effects of carotenoids and their interactions with other biological antioxidants

Carotenoids are natural pigments attracting attention of physicists, chemists and biologists due to their multiple functions in the nature. While carotenoids have unusually high extinction coefficients, they do not exhibit adequate emission. This fact has resulted in detailed studies of photophysical and photochemical properties of carotenoids and their role as light-harvesting pigments in photosynthesis. Carotenoids are abundantly present in fruits and vegetables and are considered as important species with beneficial effect on human health by decreasing the risk of various diseases, particularly decreasing the incidence of cancers and eye disease. More trials are needed to ascertain the role of carotenoids in prevention of cardiovascular disease and metabolic disease. Carotenoids effectively scavenge peroxyl radicals and act predominantly as antioxidants. However, under conditions of increased concentration of oxygen and carotenoid concentration, beta-carotene was found to exhibit prooxidant behaviour. Photophysical properties of carotenoids and conditions affecting a switch between antioxidant and prooxidant behaviour of carotenoids are the main aims of this review. In addition, the localization of carotenoids in biological membranes, their interactions and reactions with ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) as well as their redox potentials are discussed in view of their antioxidant properties as beneficial species in preventing various diseases.

Energetics and dynamics of the low-lying electronic states of constrained polyenes: implications for infinite polyenes

Steady-state and ultrafast transient absorption spectra were obtained for a series of conformationally constrained, isomerically pure polyenes with 5-23 conjugated double bonds (N). These data and fluorescence spectra of the shorter polyenes reveal the N dependence of the energies of six (1)B(u)(+) and two (1)A(g)(-) excited states. The (1)B(u)(+) states converge to a common infinite polyene limit of 15,900 ± 100 cm(-1). The two excited (1)A(g)(-) states, however, exhibit a large (~9000 cm(-1)) energy difference in the infinite polyene limit, in contrast to the common value previously predicted by theory. EOM-CCSD ab initio and MNDO-PSDCI semiempirical MO theories account for the experimental transition energies and intensities. The complex, multistep dynamics of the 1(1)B(u)(+) → 2(1)A(g)(-) → 1(1)A(g)(-) excited state decay pathways as a function of N are compared with kinetic data from several natural and synthetic carotenoids. Distinctive transient absorption signals in the visible region, previously identified with S* states in carotenoids, also are observed for the longer polyenes. Analysis of the lifetimes of the 2(1)A(g)(-) states, using the energy gap law for nonradiative decay, reveals remarkable similarities in the N dependence of the 2(1)A(g)(-) decay kinetics of the carotenoid and polyene systems. These findings are important for understanding the mechanisms by which carotenoids carry out their roles as light-harvesting molecules and photoprotective agents in biological systems.

Femtosecond Time-Resolved Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy: Application to the Ultrafast Internal Conversion in beta-Carotene

We have developed the technique of femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS), which allows the rapid collection of high-resolution vibrational spectra on the femtosecond time scale. FSRS combines a sub-50 fs actinic pump pulse with a two-pulse stimulated Raman probe to obtain vibrational spectra whose frequency resolution limits are uncoupled from the time resolution. This allows the acquisition of spectra with <100 fs time resolution and <30 cm(-1) frequency resolution. Additionally, FSRS is unaffected by background fluorescence, provides rapid (100 ms) acquisition times, and exhibits traditional spontaneous Raman line shapes. FSRS is used here to study the relaxation dynamics of beta-carotene. Following optical excitation to S(2) (1B(u) (+)) the molecule relaxes in 160 fs to S(1) (2A(g) (-)) and then undergoes two distinct stages of intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) with 200 and 450 fs time constants. These processes are attributed to rapid (200 fs) distribution of the internal conversion energy from the S(1) C=C modes into a restricted bath of anharmonically coupled modes followed by complete IVR in 450 fs. FSRS is a valuable new technique for studying the vibrational structure of chemical reaction intermediates and transition states.

Spectroscopic studies of two spectral variants of light-harvesting complex 2 (LH2) from the photosynthetic purple sulfur bacterium Allochromatium vinosum

Two spectral forms of the peripheral light-harvesting complex (LH2) from the purple sulfur photosynthetic bacterium Allochromatium vinosum were purified and their photophysical properties characterized. The complexes contain bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl a) and multiple species of carotenoids. The composition of carotenoids depends on the light conditions applied during growth of the cultures. In addition, LH2 grown under high light has a noticeable split of the B800 absorption band. The influence of the change of carotenoid distribution as well as the spectral change of the excitonic absorption of the bacteriochlorophylls on the light-harvesting ability was studied using steady-state absorption, fluorescence and femtosecond time-resolved absorption at 77K. The results demonstrate that the change of the distribution of the carotenoids when cells were grown at low light adapts the absorptive properties of the complex to the light conditions and maintains maximum photon-capture performance. In addition, an explanation for the origin of the enigmatic split of the B800 absorption band is provided. This spectral splitting is also observed in LH2 complexes from other photosynthetic sulfur purple bacterial species. According to results obtained from transient absorption spectroscopy, the B800 band split originates from two spectral forms of the associated BChl a monomeric molecules bound within the same complex.

Ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy of the light-harvesting complex 2 (LH2) from the photosynthetic bacterium Thermochromatium tepidum

The light-harvesting complex 2 from the thermophilic purple bacterium Thermochromatium tepidum was purified and studied by steady-state absorption and fluorescence, sub-nanosecond-time-resolved fluorescence and femtosecond time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy. The measurements were performed at room temperature and at 10 K. The combination of both ultrafast and steady-state optical spectroscopy methods at ambient and cryogenic temperatures allowed the detailed study of carotenoid (Car)-to-bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) as well BChl-to-BChl excitation energy transfer in the complex. The studies show that the dominant Cars rhodopin (N=11) and spirilloxanthin (N=13) do not play a significant role as supportive energy donors for BChl a. This is related with their photophysical properties regulated by long π-electron conjugation. On the other hand, such properties favor some of the Cars, particularly spirilloxanthin (N=13) to play the role of the direct quencher of the excited singlet state of BChl.

Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopic study of a carbonyl-containing carotenoid analogue, 2-(all-trans-retinylidene)-indan-1,3-dione

The photophysical properties of a carbonyl-containing carotenoid analogue in an s-cis configuration, relative to the conjugated π system, 2-(all-trans-retinylidene)-indan-1,3-dione (C20Ind), were investigated by femtosecond time-resolved spectroscopy in various solvents. The lifetime of the optically forbidden S(1) state of C20Ind becomes long as solvent polarity increases. This trend is completely opposite to the situation of S(1-ICT) dynamics of carbonyl-containing carotenoids, such as peridinin and fucoxanthin. Excitation energy dependence of the transient absorption measurements shows that the transient absorption spectra in nonpolar solvents were originated from two distinct transient species, while those in polar and protic solvents are due to a single transient species. By referring to the results of MNDO-PSDCI (modified neglect of differential overlap with partial single- and double-configuration interaction) calculations, we conclude: (1) in polar and protic solvents, the S(1) state is generated following excitation up to the S(2) state; (2) in nonpolar solvents, however, both the S(1) and the (1)nπ* states are generated; and (3) C20Ind does not generate the S(1-ICT) state, despite the fact that it has two conjugated carbonyl groups.

Spectroscopic studies of carotenoid-to-bacteriochlorophyll energy transfer in LHRC photosynthetic complex from Roseiflexus castenholzii

Carotenoids present in the photosynthetic light-harvesting reaction center (LHRC) complex from chlorosome lacking filamentous anoxygenic phototroph, Roseiflexus castenholzii were purified and characterized for their photochemical properties. The LHRC from anaerobically grown cells contains five different carotenoids, methoxy-keto-myxocoxanthin, gamma-carotene, and its three derivatives, whereas the LHRC from aerobically grown cells contains only three carotenoid pigments with methoxy-keto-myxocoxanthin being the dominant one. The spectroscopic properties and dynamics of excited singlet states of the carotenoids were studied by steady-state absorption, fluorescence and ultrafast time-resolved optical spectroscopy in organic solvent and in the intact LHRC complex. Time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy performed in the near-infrared (NIR) on purified carotenoids combined with steady-state absorption spectroscopy led to the precise determination of values of the energies of the S(1)(2(1)A(g)(-)) excited state. Global and single wavelength fitting of the ultrafast spectral and temporal data sets of the carotenoids in solvents and in the LHRC revealed the pathways of de-excitation of the carotenoid excited states.

Femtosecond carotenoid to retinal energy transfer in xanthorhodopsin

Xanthorhodopsin of the extremely halophilic bacterium Salinibacter ruber represents a novel antenna system. It consists of a carbonyl carotenoid, salinixanthin, bound to a retinal protein that serves as a light-driven transmembrane proton pump similar to bacteriorhodopsin of archaea. Here we apply the femtosecond transient absorption technique to reveal the excited-state dynamics of salinixanthin both in solution and in xanthorhodopsin. The results not only disclose extremely fast energy transfer rates and pathways, they also reveal effects of the binding site on the excited-state properties of the carotenoid. We compared the excited-state dynamics of salinixanthin in xanthorhodopsin and in NaBH(4)-treated xanthorhodopsin. The NaBH(4) treatment prevents energy transfer without perturbing the carotenoid binding site, and allows observation of changes in salinixanthin excited-state dynamics related to specific binding. The S(1) lifetimes of salinixanthin in untreated and NaBH(4)-treated xanthorhodopsin were identical (3 ps), confirming the absence of the S(1)-mediated energy transfer. The kinetics of salinixanthin S(2) decay probed in the near-infrared region demonstrated a change of the S(2) lifetime from 66 fs in untreated xanthorhodopsin to 110 fs in the NaBH(4)-treated protein. This corresponds to a salinixanthin-retinal energy transfer time of 165 fs and an efficiency of 40%. In addition, binding of salinixanthin to xanthorhodopsin increases the population of the S(*) state that decays in 6 ps predominantly to the ground state, but a small fraction (<10%) of the S(*) state generates a triplet state.

Effect of structural modifications on the spectroscopic properties and dynamics of the excited states of peridinin

The spectroscopic properties and dynamics of the lowest excited singlet states of peridinin and two derivatives have been studied by steady-state absorption and fast-transient optical spectroscopic techniques. One derivative denoted PerOlEs, possesses a double bond and a methyl ester group instead of the r-ylidenebutenolide of peridinin. Another derivative denoted PerAcEs, is the biosynthetic precursor of peridinin and possesses a triple bond and a methyl ester group corresponding to the r-ylidenbutenolide function. Ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopic experiments in the visible and near-infrared regions were performed on the molecules and reveal the energies and regarding the structural features and interactions responsible for the unusual solvent-induced changes in the steady-state and transient absorption spectra and dynamics of dynamics of the excited electronic states. The data also provide information peridinin.