Photoconduction in proteins.

Abstract

SZENT-GYORGI1 has reported large conductivity increases in illumination of protein films stained with coloured dyes. Riehl2,3 found a photoconductivity in gelatine on 366 nm irradiation and Douzou and Thullier4 reported a photocurrent in serum albumin films on illumination with visible light. Nelson5 has measured the action spectra of haemoglobin and gelatin in vacuo, and observed a similar wavelength dependence for both photoconduction and photoemission with a “λ0” threshold near 3.9 eV. Vladimirov and Timofeyev6 found a similar spectral dependence of photocurrent for thin films of actomyosin and trypsin. Liang7 has observed photocurrents on illumination of polyglycine I and II with a tungsten lamp. No spectral dependencies for protein photocurrents at below 3.9 eV have been reported.