In contrast to porphyrins and chlorins, the direct metalation of bacteriochlorins is difficult. Nevertheless, Cu2+ and Zn2+ can be introduced into bacteriopheophytin in acetic acid, whereas Cd2+ can be inserted in dimethylformamide. The former reactions depend on the substituents of the isocyclic ring:  they are facilitated if enolization of the β-ketoester system is inhibited. Starting with [Cd]-bacteriochlorophyll-a or its 132-hydroxy derivative, a series of metallo-bacteriochlorins with central divalent ions Pd2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, and Mn2+ have been obtained by transmetalation. Like in the parent Mg complex, the four principal optical transitions are well-separated in these complexes, and their responses to changes in the central metal and its coordination state can be followed in detail. The energies of the Q y and B x transitions are almost independent of the central metal, whereas the Q x and B y transition energies change significantly, depending on the central metal as well as the presence of additional axial ligands. If the complexes are grouped by their coordination number, empirical linear correlations exist between these shifts and the ratio / , where is Pauling's electronegativity value and is the ionic radius of the metal. A similar correlation was found for those 1H NMR signals influenced mainly by the ring current and for the redox potentials. This observation was in contrast with the linear relationships with alone, found for metal-substituted porphyrins. The spectral variations influenced by the central metal and its state of ligation are attributed, within the framework of the four-orbital model, to the electrostatic interaction of the electron densities in the four orbitals with the effective charge of the central metal ions, which is most pronounced for the a2u orbital (HOMO-1). Ligation studies have revealed that addition of the first axial ligand decreases the effective charge of the central metal by approximately 50% and addition of the second axial ligand by another 20% with respect to the absence of axial ligands. The singlet−triplet splitting deduced from fluorescence and phosphorescence measurements is similar for [Pd]-, [Cu]-, [Zn]-, and [Mg]-BChl (4550 ± 100 cm-1).

Phytol, a C20 alcohol esterifying the C-17(3) propionate, and Mg2+ ion chelated in the central cavity, are conservative structural constituents of chlorophylls. To evaluate their intramolecular structural effects we prepared a series of metal- and phytyl-free derivatives of bacteriochlorophyll a and applied them as model chlorophylls. A detailed spectroscopic study on the model pigments reveals meaningful differences in the spectral characteristics of the phytylated and non-phytylated pigments. Their analysis in terms of solvatochromism and axial coordination shows how the central Mg and phytyl residue shape the properties of the pigment. Surprisingly, the presence/absence of the central Mg has no effect on the solvatochromism of (bacterio)chlorophyll pi-electron system and the hydrophobicity of phytyl does not interfere with the first solvation shell of the chromophore. However, both residues significantly influence the conformation of the pigment macrocycle and the removal of either residue increases the macrocycle flexibility. The chelation of Mg has a flattening effect on the macrocycle whereas bulky phytyl residue seems to control the conformation of the chromophore via steric interactions with ring V and its substituents. The analysis of spectroscopic properties of bacteriochlorophyllide (free acid) shows that esterification of the C-17(3) propionate is necessary in chlorophylls because the carboxyl group may act as a strong chelator of the central Mg. These observations imply that the truncated chlorophylls used in theoretical studies are not adequate as models of native chromophores, especially when fine effects are to be modeled.

A simple reconstitution technique has been developed and then applied to prepare a series of light-harvesting antenna 1 (LH1) complexes with a programmed carotenoid composition, not available from native photosynthetic membranes. The complexes were reconstituted with different C(40) carotenoids, having two structural parameters variable: the functional side groups and the number of conjugated C-C double bonds, systematically increasing from 9 to 13. The complexes, differing only in the type of carotenoid, bound to an otherwise identical bacteriochlorophyll-polypeptide matrix, can serve as a unique model system in which the relationship between the carotenoid character and the functioning of pigment-protein complexes can be investigated. The reconstituted LH1 complexes resemble the native antenna, isolated from wild-type Rhodospirillum rubrum, but their coloration is entirely determined by carotenoid. Along with the increase in its conjugation size, the carotenoid absorption transitions gradually shift to the red. Thus, the extension of the conjugation size of the antenna carotenoids provides a mechanism for the spectral tuning of light harvesting in the visible part of the spectrum. The carotenoids in the reconstitution system promote the LH1 formation and seem to bind and transfer the excitation energy specifically only to a species with characteristically red-shifted absorption and emission maxima, apparently, due to a cooperative effect. Monitoring the LH1 formation by steady-state absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies reveals that in the presence of carotenoids it proceeds without spectrally resolved intermediates, leading directly to B880. The effect of the carotenoid is enhanced when the pigment contains the hydroxy or methoxy side groups, implying that, in parallel to hydrophobic interactions and pi-pi stacking, other interactions are also involved in the formation and stabilization of LH1.

Changes in the electronic transition energies and redox potentials because of metal substitution in bacteriochlorophyll a justify the recently suggested correlation between electronegativity χM, covalent radius, and an effective charge, Q M, at the metal atom center. A simple electrostatic theory in which Q M modifies the energies of the frontier molecular orbitals by Coulombic interactions with the charge densities at the atomic π centers is suggested. The relative change in electrostatic potential at a distance r a from the metal center is ΔQ M/r a, where ΔQ M, the change in the metal effective positive charge because of Mg being substituted by another metal, varies with the change in metal electronegativity (Mulliken's values) ΔχM and covalent radius Δ . ΔQ M consists of two components:  the major component, Δ , characteristic of the central metal, is independent of the molecular environment and proportional to the electronegativity of the metal at a typical valence state. The second component, Δq M,N, reflects those perturbations induced by the molecular frame. It depends on the overlap between the metal and ligand orbitals hence changes both with the metal covalent radius (i.e., its typical “size”) and the particular orbital environment. For the series of metals that we examined, we determined that Δ = (0.12 ± 0.02) ΔχM. Significant contributions of Δq M,N to ΔQ M,N were found for the changes in the energies of the y-polarized electronic transitions B y and Q y and to a lesser extent the first oxidation potential . Minor contributions were found for the changes in the energies of the x-polarized electronic transitions B x and Q x and the first reduction potential . The model agrees well with target testing factor analysis performed on the entire data space. Simulations of the experimental redox potentials and the four electronic transitions required mixing of single-electron promotions; however, the coefficients for the configuration interactions were assumed to be metal-independent within the examined series because the relative oscillator strengths of the various transitions did not show significant changes upon metal substitution. The reported observations and the accompanying calculations provide experimental support to the modern concepts of electronegativity and may help in better understanding biological redox centers consisting of porphyrins or chlorophylls.

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Photoprotection by carotenoids is generally considered to be based on the photophysical quenching of triplets and singlet oxygen. There is also accumulating evidence of an alternative, chemical quenching of triplets and singlet oxygen by carotenoids. We report the identification of relatively stable cyclic mono- and diendoperoxides as first products of such an alternative reaction. Nevertheless, these species remain reactive and in the dark cause autooxidation of beta-carotene in our model system. Their formation could explain the intriguing pro-oxidant and cytotoxic activity of carotenoids.

Chlorophyll (Chl) and bacteriochlorophyll (Bchl) have been made water soluble by transesterfication with serine (Ser) at the propionyl residue and tested as potential reagents for photodynamic therapy (PDT). Photocytotoxicity of the conjugates Chl-Ser and Bchl-Ser in M2R mouse melanoma was tested in cell cultures. Tissue uptake and clearance of the photosensitizers in CDI nude and C57Bl mice implanted with M2R tumors are described, Photocytotoxicity in cell cultures was determined microscopically and by [3Hlthymidine incorporation. The LD.u values in vitro were 0.05-0

The aim of this work is the verification of symmetry effects on the electronic absorption spectra of carotenoids. The symmetry breaking in cis-β-carotenes and in carotenoids with nonlinear π-electron system is of virtually no effect on the dark transitions in these pigments, in spite of the loss of the inversion center and evident changes in their electronic structure. In the cis isomers, the S2 state couples with the higher excited states and the extent of this coupling depends on the position of the cis bend. A confrontation of symmetry properties of carotenoids with their electronic absorption and IR and Raman spectra shows that they belong to the C1 or C2 but not the C2h symmetry group, as commonly assumed. In these realistic symmetries all the electronic transitions are symmetry-allowed and the absence of some transitions, such as the dark S0 → S1 transition, must have another physical origin. Most likely it is a severe deformation of the carotenoid molecule in the S1 state, unachievable directly from the ground state, which means that the Franck-Condon factors for a vertical S0 → S1 transition are negligible because the final state is massively displaced along the vibrational coordinates. The implications of our findings have an impact on the understanding of the photophysics and functioning of carotenoids.