Effect of vibrational modes on electron transfer directionality: Photosynthetic reaction centers.

Abstract

It is shown in the example of the photosynthetic reaction centers (RCs) that the electron transfer can be directed by vibrational modes into the needed site where it is localized. In the case of the RC, it is the low vibrational mode that produces such an effect. We find that the electron transfer unidirectionality in the photosynthetic reaction center can be determined by the asymmetry in the reorganization energy of the vibrational modes at high temperatures. We also numerically solve generalized master equationsfor various vibration relaxation times. The results are compared with the solution of master equations. It is shown that for small relaxation times, the non-Markovian electron transfer kinetics gives similar results as the Markovian approximation, but the results are significantly different for the long vibration relaxation times.