Biohybrid antenna systems have been constructed that contain synthetic chromophores attached to 31mer analogues of the bacterial photosynthetic core light-harvesting (LH1) β-polypeptide. The peptides are engineered with a Cys site for bioconjugation with maleimide-terminated chromophores, which include synthetic bacteriochlorins (BC1, BC2) with strong near-infrared absorption and commercial dyes Oregon green (OGR) and rhodamine red (RR) with strong absorption in the blue-green to yellow-orange regions. The peptides place the Cys 14 (or 6) residues before a native His site that binds bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl-a) and, like the native LH proteins, have high helical content as probed by single-reflection IR spectroscopy. The His residue associates with BChl-a as in the native LH1 β-polypeptide to form dimeric ββ-subunit complexes [31mer(-14Cys)X/BChl](2), where X is one of the synthetic chromophores. The native-like BChl-a dimer has Q(y) absorption at 820 nm and serves as the acceptor for energy from light absorbed by the appended synthetic chromophore. The energy-transfer characteristics of biohybrid complexes have been characterized by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence and absorption measurements. The quantum yields of energy transfer from a synthetic chromophore located 14 residues from the BChl-coordinating His site are as follows: OGR (0.30) < RR (0.60) < BC2 (0.90). Oligomeric assemblies of the subunit complexes [31mer(-14Cys)X/BChl](n) are accompanied by a bathochromic shift of the Q(y) absorption of the BChl-a oligomer as far as the 850-nm position found in cyclic native photosynthetic LH2 complexes. Room-temperature stabilized oligomeric biohybrids have energy-transfer quantum yields comparable to those of the dimeric subunit complexes as follows: OGR (0.20) < RR (0.80) < BC1 (0.90). Thus, the new biohybrid antennas retain the energy-transfer and self-assembly characteristics of the native antenna complexes, offer enhanced coverage of the solar spectrum, and illustrate a versatile paradigm for the construction of artificial LH systems.
The challenge of creating both pigment building blocks and scaffolding to organize a large number of such pigments has long constituted a central impediment to the construction of artificial light-harvesting architectures. Light-harvesting (LH) antennas in photosynthetic bacteria are formed in a two-tiered selfassembly process wherein (1) a peptide dyad containing two bacteriochlorophyll a molecules forms, and(2) the dyads associate to form cyclic oligomers composed of 8 or 9 dyads in LH2 and 15 or 16 in LH1 of purple photosynthetic bacteria. While such antenna systems generally have near-quantitative transfer of excitation energy among pigments, only a fraction of the solar spectrum is typically absorbed. A platform architecture for study of light-harvesting phenomena has been developed that employs native photosynthetic peptide analogs, native bacteriochlorophyll a, and synthetic near-infrared-absorbing bacteriochlorins. Herein, the syntheses of 10 lipophilic bacteriochlorins are reported, of which 7 contain bioconjugatable handles (maleimide, iodoacetamide, formyl, carboxylic acid) for attachment to the peptide chassis. The bioconjugatable bacteriochlorins typically exhibit a long-wavelength absorption band in the range 710 to 820 nm, fluorescence yield of 0.1-0.2, and lifetime of the lowest singlet excited state of 2-5 ns. The a-helical structure of the native-like peptide is retained upon conjugation with a synthetic bacteriochlorin, as judged by single-reflection infrared studies. Static and time-resolved optical studies of the oligomeric biohybrid architectures in aqueous detergent solution reveal efficient ($90%) excitation energy transfer from the attached bacteriochlorin to the native-like bacteriochlorophyll a sites. The biohybrid light-harvesting architectures thus exploit the self-constituting features of the natural systems yet enable versatile incorporation of members from a palette of synthetic chromophores, thereby opening the door to a wide variety of studies in artificial photosynthesis.
Bacteriochlorins absorb strongly in the near-infrared (NIR, 700-900 nm) region and hence are well suited for photophysical studies and photomedical applications, yet such endeavors heretofore have been largely limited by the intrinsic lipophilicity of the bacteriochlorin macrocycle. Here, a new molecular design is investigated wherein 3,5-dicarboxyphenyl units are appended to the β-pyrrolic positions of the bacteriochlorin. Use of the 3,5-aryl substitution motif places the carboxylic acid groups, which are anionic at neutral pH, above and below the plane of the bacteriochlorin macrocycle. A de novo synthesis has been employed to create five such bacteriochlorins, which uses as intermediates two new 2,12-dibromobacteriochlorin building blocks and a known 3,13-dibromobacteriochlorin. The aryl groups with protected carboxylate moieties were introduced by Suzuki coupling; subsequent deprotection afforded the hydrophilic bacteriochlorins. The latter were characterized by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy in DMF and in aqueous phosphate buffer (pH 7). In most cases, comparable sharp emission (FWHM of ∼25 nm) and modest fluorescence yields (0.060-0.11) were observed in aqueous phosphate buffer medium and in DMF. Aqueous solubility was examined by absorption spectral interrogation of samples over a 1000-fold concentration range with reciprocal change in pathlength (∼0.5, 5, 50, and 500 μM; 10, 1, 0.1, and 0.01 cm pathlength cuvettes). One hydrophilic bacteriochlorin was prepared that contains a single maleimido-terminated tether for bioconjugation; the tether was installed by the sequence of 15-bromination of the bacteriochlorin, Suzuki coupling, and DCC-mediated amide formation. The maleimido-bacteriochlorin was conjugated to a 48-residue cysteine-containing peptide analogue of a constituent from a bacterial photosynthetic light-harvesting complex. Taken together, the results show a new molecular design and facile de novo synthetic route for obtaining hydrophilic bacteriochlorins including a bioconjugatable group if desired.
Bacteriochlorins are potentially excellent chromophores for near-infrared (NIR) photochemical andspectroscopic studies yet the intrinsically hydrophobic macrocycle core has stymied work in aqueous media. Herein, a set of bacteriochlorins bearing distinct polar motifs is reported. The motifs include phosphonate (pH-dependent anionic, BC1), carboxylate (pH-dependent anionic, BC2), ammonium (permanently cationic) without (BC3) or with (BC4) a linker ester moiety, and tetraethyleneoxy (a short PEG, polar non-ionic, BC5). The groups are located at the 3,5-positions of each of two aryl groups at the bacteriochlorin 3,13-sites. Synthesis of the bacteriochlorins entails the Suzuki coupling of a common 3,13-dibromobacteriochlorin building block with a set of aryl boronates. Five factors were selected for comparisons among the polar motifs upon attachment to the bacteriochlorins: (1) synthesis yield and ease of purification, (2) amenability toward subsequent derivatization, (3) water-solubility, (4) full-width-at-halfmaximum (fwhm) of the long-wavelength (Q y ) absorption and fluorescence bands, singlet excited-state lifetime (t S ) and fluorescence quantum yield (F f ), and (5) stability in the dark or under illumination. Watersolubility was assessed by examination of the absorption spectra across a 1000-fold concentration range (B0.2-0.6 mM to B200-600 mM). With the exception of BC4, all displayed good aqueous solubility, photostability, and photophysical properties in aqueous solution (fwhm = 23-31 nm, F f = 0.10-0.16, t S = 1.9-2.7 ns). The modestly lower F f and t S values for the bacteriochlorins in aqueous versus organic (N,N-dimethylformamide) media are traced to an increased rate constant for excited-state internal conversion. Upon consideration of all factors, the ammonium (short linker) and short PEG groups were most attractive for solubilization of the bacteriochlorins in aqueous media. The studies prompted the synthesis of two water-soluble (ammonium-substituted) bacteriochlorins bearing N-hydroxysuccinimide esters. † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Attempted synthesis of a phosphatidylcholine bacteriochlorin (BC6); mass spectrometry analysis for BC1-BC5, BC7, and BC8; and additional data concerning the photophysical properties of bacteriochlorins. See macrocycles can be incorporated with peptides to give selfassembled light-harvesting architectures. 25,26 The tetrapyrroles of present interest are bacteriochlorins, which absorb strongly in the near-infrared (NIR) region. A second objective -a spinoff thereof -aims to use hydrophilic bacteriochlorins in biomedical applications. A variety of bacteriochlorins with appended polar motifs has been previously prepared; representative members are shown in Chart 1. Compounds I, 27 II 27 and III 28 were derived by semisynthesis 29,30 from bacteriochlorophyll a; IV 13 by hydrogenation of the corresponding porphyrin; 31 and V-IX by de novo synthesis. 32,33 Methods of bacteriochlorin synthesis have been reviewed. 34,35 An attractive design element for...
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