Self Assembled Porphyrin-DNA Antenna Complex

Abstract

Fluorescent intercalating dyes have previously been used to form a self-assembled photonic wire at the nano scale, employing long range energy transfer. Here we present a mimic of a photosynthetic reaction centre antenna complex using porphyrin-modified DNA and fluorescent intercalating dyes. Visible light is used to excite an intercalated dye followed by fast energy transfer between dyes due to their large spectral overlap. A redox active porphyrin moiety absorbing at higher wavelength acts as an energy sink, thereby transferring energy from the DNA strand to the porphyrin. Effectively this energy transfer process has increased the absorption coefficient of the porphyrin. We will study the efficiency of energy transfer to the porphyrin as a function of intercalating dye concentration, and study the effect of lipid vesicles on the system.