Electron transfer in monolayer assemblies and energy storage in photosynthetic bacteria.

Abstract

Simulating photosynthesis is of interest in developing future solar energy conversion technology. It is important to know the construction of the photosynthetic machinery, its mechanism and how the machinery can be simulated in artificial models. The primary process, as known since many years1, is a photoinduced transmembrane electron transfer carrying the electron from a low to a high energy level. Attempts to find a mechanism for that process and to construct corresponding arrangements have stimulated much work on electron transfer in monolayer assemblies22–11. On that basis12 and in the light of the recent X-ray analysis by Deisenhofer et al.13 detailed design principles for an optimal device for energy storage by photoinduced electron transfer are discussed and it is shown that the bacterial reaction center is constructed according to these principles. It is found from these design principles that the arrangement of the chromophores in the reaction center is optimal for the purpose of energy storage, and small deviations in the arrangement prevent its operation. Future energy storing systems constructed according to these principles then must be extremely well organized, each functional component molecule being exactly adjusted to each other.KeywordsElectron TransferReaction CenterPhotosynthetic BacteriumPhotoinduced Electron TransferSpecial PairThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.