Electron magnetic resonance in heterogeneous photocatalysis research

The contribution of electron magnetic resonance techniques, and in particular of CW-EPR, to the experimental research on photocatalytic phenomena is illustrated in this paper with selected examples. In the first part of the paper the role of EPR in unravelling the nature and the features of extrinsic point defects in semiconducting oxides is epitomized using the important example of the photoactive nitrogen center in various semiconducting oxides. In the second part we describe how EPR can monitor the processes that follow the initial photoinduced charge separation in photocatalysis, namely the stabilisation, migration and surface reactivity of electrons and holes. Finally, we will discuss how the role of EPR in photocatalysis is not limited to monitor phenomena occurring in the solid or at its surface but it can be extended to the investigation of the liquid phase by employing the spin trapping techniques to monitor the nature and the concentration of the reactive free radicals formed along the photocatalytic process.

Jim Hyde and the ENDOR Connection: A Personal Account

In this minireview, we report on our year-long EPR work, such as electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR), pulse electron double resonance (PELDOR) and ELDOR-detected NMR (EDNMR) at X-band and W-band microwave frequencies and magnetic fields. This report is dedicated to James S. Hyde and honors his pioneering contributions to the measurement of spin interactions in large (bio)molecules. From these interactions, detailed information is revealed on structure and dynamics of macromolecules embedded in liquid-solution or solid-state environments. New developments in pulsed microwave and sweepable cryomagnet technology as well as ultra-fast electronics for signal data handling and processing have pushed the limits of EPR spectroscopy and its multi-frequency extensions to new horizons concerning sensitivity of detection, selectivity of molecular interactions and time resolution. Among the most important advances is the upgrading of EPR to high magnetic fields, very much in analogy to what happened in NMR. The ongoing progress in EPR spectroscopy is exemplified by reviewing various multi-frequency electron-nuclear double-resonance experiments on organic radicals, light-generated donor-acceptor radical pairs in photosynthesis, and site-specifically nitroxide spin-labeled bacteriorhodopsin, the light-driven proton pump, as well as EDNMR and ENDOR on nitroxides. Signal and resolution enhancements are particularly spectacular for ENDOR, EDNMR and PELDOR on frozen-solution samples at high Zeeman fields. They provide orientation selection for disordered samples approaching single-crystal resolution at canonical g-tensor orientations-even for molecules with small g-anisotropies. Dramatic improvements of EPR detection sensitivity could be achieved, even for short-lived paramagnetic reaction intermediates. Thus, unique structural and dynamic information is revealed that can hardly be obtained by other analytical techniques. Micromolar concentrations of sample molecules have become sufficient to characterize stable and transient reaction intermediates of complex molecular systems-offering exciting applications for physicists, chemists, biochemists and molecular biologists.

Probing the Electronic Structure of Bacteriochlorophyll Radical Ions-A Theoretical Study of the Effect of Substituents on Hyperfine Parameters

In reaction centers (RCs) of photosynthesis, a light-induced charge separation takes place creating radical cations and anions of the participating cofactors. In photosynthetic bacteria, different bacteriochlorophylls (BChl) are involved in this process. Information about the electronic structure of the BChl radical cations and anions can be obtained by measuring the electron spin density distribution via the electron-nuclear hyperfine interaction using EPR and ENDOR techniques. In this communication, we report isotropic hyperfine coupling constants (hfcs) of the BChl b and g radical cations and anions, calculated by density functional theory, and compare them with the more common radical ions of BChl a and with available experimental data. The observed differences in the computed hyperfine data are discussed in view of a possible distinction between these species by EPR/ENDOR methods. In addition, ¹⁴ N nuclear quadrupole coupling constants (nqcs) computed for BChl a, b, g, and also for Chl a in their charge neutral, radical cation and radical anion states are presented. These nqcs are compared with experimental values obtained by ESEEM spectroscopy on several different radical ions.

Q-Band Electron-Nuclear Double Resonance Reveals Out-of-Plane Hydrogen Bonds Stabilize an Anionic Ubisemiquinone in Cytochrome bo3 from Escherichia coli

The respiratory cytochrome bo₃ ubiquinol oxidase from Escherichia coli has a high-affinity ubiquinone binding site that stabilizes the one-electron reduced ubisemiquinone (SQ_H), which is a transient intermediate during the electron-mediated reduction of O₂ to water. It is known that SQ_H is stabilized by two strong hydrogen bonds from R71 and D75 to ubiquinone carbonyl oxygen O1 and weak hydrogen bonds from H98 and Q101 to O4. In this work, SQ_H was investigated with orientation-selective Q-band (∼34 GHz) pulsed ¹H electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectroscopy on fully deuterated cytochrome (cyt) bo₃ in a H₂O solvent so that only exchangeable protons contribute to the observed ENDOR spectra. Simulations of the experimental ENDOR spectra provided the principal values and directions of the hyperfine (hfi) tensors for the two strongly coupled H-bond protons (H1 and H2). For H1, the largest principal component of the proton anisotropic hfi tensor T_z' = 11.8 MHz, whereas for H2, T_z' = 8.6 MHz. Remarkably, the data show that the direction of the H1 H-bond is nearly perpendicular to the quinone plane (∼70° out of plane). The orientation of the second strong hydrogen bond, H2, is out of plane by ∼25°. Equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations on a membrane-embedded model of the cyt bo₃ Q_H site show that these H-bond orientations are plausible but do not distinguish which H-bond, from R71 or D75, is nearly perpendicular to the quinone ring. Density functional theory calculations support the idea that the distances and geometries of the H-bonds to the ubiquinone carbonyl oxygens, along with the measured proton anisotropic hfi couplings, are most compatible with an anionic (deprotonated) ubisemiquinone.

Basic and Combination Cross-Features in X- and Q-band HYSCORE of the 15N Labeled Bacteriochlorophyll a Cation Radical

Chlorophylls are an essential class of cofactors found in all photosynthetic organisms. Upon absorbing a photon, the excited state energy of the chlorophyll can either be transferred to another acceptor molecule, or be used to drive electron transfer. When acting as the primary donor in the bacterial photosynthetic reaction center, light-induced charge separation results in the formation of a cationic bacteriochlorophyll dimer. The hyperfine interactions between the unpaired electron of the 15N labeled bacteriochlorophyll cation radical and its four pyrrole nitrogens are probed with X- and Q-band 15N HYSCORE spectroscopy in frozen solution. The powder-type HYSCORE shows the basic (ν α(β), ν β(α)) cross-features as well as several types of combination cross-features. The nitrogen tensors were resolved in the squared-frequency representation of the HYSCORE spectra, and simulations of the combination peaks allowed for further refinement of the hyperfine coupling constants. The nitrogen tensors were found to have coupling constants a=3.28 MHz, T=1.23 MHz (N1 and N2), a=4.10 MHz, T=1.25 MHz (N3), and a=4.35 MHz, T=1.70 MHz (N4). The combination features were assigned based on a linear regression analysis of the cross-ridges in the squared-frequency representation as well as spectral simulations. The methodology discussed here will provide an important foundation for analyzing and understanding complex two-dimensional spectra from several I=1/2 nuclei.

Hyperfine and nuclear quadrupole tensors of nitrogen donors in the Q(A) site of bacterial reaction centers: correlation of the histidine N(δ) tensors with hydrogen bond strength

X- and Q-band pulsed EPR spectroscopy was applied to study the interaction of the Q_A site semiquinone (SQ_A) with nitrogens from the local protein environment in natural abundance ¹⁴N and in ¹⁵N uniformly labeled photosynthetic reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The hyperfine and nuclear quadrupole tensors for His-M219 N_δ and Ala-M260 peptide nitrogen (N_p) were estimated through simultaneous simulation of the Q-band ¹⁵N Davies ENDOR, X- and Q-band ^14,15N HYSCORE, and X-band ¹⁴N three-pulse ESEEM spectra, with support from DFT calculations. The hyperfine coupling constants were found to be a(¹⁴N) = 2.3 MHz, T = 0.3 MHz for His-M219 N_δ and a(¹⁴N) = 2.6 MHz, T = 0.3 MHz for Ala-M260 N_p. Despite that His-M219 N_δ is established as the stronger of the two H-bond donors, Ala-M260 N_p is found to have the larger value of a(¹⁴N). The nuclear quadrupole coupling constants were estimated as e²Qq/4h = 0.38 MHz, η = 0.97 and e²Qq/4h = 0.74 MHz, η = 0.59 for His-M219 N_δ and Ala-M260 N_p, respectively. An analysis of the available data on nuclear quadrupole tensors for imidazole nitrogens found in semiquinone-binding proteins and copper complexes reveals these systems share similar electron occupancies of the protonated nitrogen orbitals. By applying the Townes–Dailey model, developed previously for copper complexes, to the semiquinones, we find the asymmetry parameter η to be a sensitive probe of the histidine N_δ–semiquinone hydrogen bond strength. This is supported by a strong correlation observed between η and the isotropic coupling constant a(¹⁴N) and is consistent with previous computational works and our own semiquinone-histidine model calculations. The empirical relationship presented here for a(¹⁴N) and η will provide an important structural characterization tool in future studies of semiquinone-binding proteins.

High-field EPR

Among the numerous spectroscopic techniques utilized in photosynthesis research, high-field/high-frequency EPR and its pulse extensions ESE, ENDOR, ESEEM, and PELDOR play an important role in the endeavor to understand, on the basis of structure and dynamics data, dominant factors that control specificity and efficiency of light-induced electron- and proton-transfer processes in primary photosynthesis. Short-lived transient intermediates of the photocycle can be characterized by high-field EPR techniques, and detailed structural information can be obtained even from disordered sample preparations. The chapter describes how multifrequency high-field EPR methodology, in conjunction with mutation strategies for site-specific isotope or spin labeling and with the support of modern quantum-chemical computation methods for data interpretation, is capable of providing new insights into the photosynthetic transfer processes. The information obtained is complementary to that of protein crystallography, solid-state NMR and laser spectroscopy.

Long-range distance determinations in biomacromolecules by EPR spectroscopy

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy provides a variety of tools to study structures and structural changes of large biomolecules or complexes thereof. In order to unravel secondary structure elements, domain arrangements or complex formation, continuous wave and pulsed EPR methods capable of measuring the magnetic dipole coupling between two unpaired electrons can be used to obtain long-range distance constraints on the nanometer scale. Such methods yield reliably and precisely distances of up to 80 A, can be applied to biomolecules in aqueous buffer solutions or membranes, and are not size limited. They can be applied either at cryogenic or physiological temperatures and down to amounts of a few nanomoles. Spin centers may be metal ions, metal clusters, cofactor radicals, amino acid radicals, or spin labels. In this review, we discuss the advantages and limitations of the different EPR spectroscopic methods, briefly describe their theoretical background, and summarize important biological applications. The main focus of this article will be on pulsed EPR methods like pulsed electron-electron double resonance (PELDOR) and their applications to spin-labeled biosystems.

Base-specific spin-labeling of RNA for structure determination

To facilitate the measurement of intramolecular distances in solvated RNA systems, a combination of spin-labeling, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is presented. The fairly rigid spin label 2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-pyrrolin-1-yloxyl-3-acetylene (TPA) was base and site specifically introduced into RNA through a Sonogashira palladium catalyzed cross-coupling on column. For this purpose 5-iodo-uridine, 5-iodo-cytidine and 2-iodo-adenosine phosphoramidites were synthesized and incorporated into RNA-sequences. Application of the recently developed ACE chemistry presented the main advantage to limit the reduction of the nitroxide to an amine during the oligonucleotide automated synthesis and thus to increase substantially the reliability of the synthesis and the yield of labeled oligonucleotides. 4-Pulse Electron Double Resonance (PELDOR) was then successfully used to measure the intramolecular spin-spin distances in six doubly labeled RNA-duplexes. Comparison of these results with our previous work on DNA showed that A- and B-Form can be differentiated. Using an all-atom force field with explicit solvent, MD simulations gave results in good agreement with the measured distances and indicated that the RNA A-Form was conserved despite a local destabilization effect of the nitroxide label. The applicability of the method to more complex biological systems is discussed.