The orange carotenoid protein (OCP) serves as a sensor of light intensity and an effector of phycobilisome (PB)-associated photoprotection in cyanobacteria. Structurally, the OCP is composed of two distinct domains spanned by a single carotenoid chromophore. Functionally, in response to high light, the OCP converts from a dark-stable orange form, OCP O , to an active red form, OCP R . The C-terminal domain of the OCP has been implicated in the dynamic response to light intensity and plays a role in switching off the OCP's photoprotective response through its interaction with the fluorescence recovery protein. The function of the N-terminal domain, which is uniquely found in cyanobacteria, is unclear. To investigate its function, we isolated the N-terminal domain in vitro using limited proteolysis of native OCP. The N-terminal domain retains the carotenoid chromophore; this red carotenoid protein (RCP) has constitutive PB fluorescence quenching activity comparable in magnitude to that of active, full-length OCP R . A comparison of the spectroscopic properties of the RCP with OCP R indicates that critical proteinchromophore interactions within the C-terminal domain are weakened in the OCP R form. These results suggest that the C-terminal domain dynamically regulates the photoprotective activity of an otherwise constitutively active carotenoid binding N-terminal domain.

Photoremovable protecting groups (PPGs) when conjugated to biological effectors forming “caged compounds” are a powerful means to regulate the action of physiologically active messengers in vivo through 1-photon excitation (1PE) and 2-photon excitation (2PE). Understanding the photodeprotection mechanism is important for their physiological use. We compared the quantum efficiencies and product outcomes in different solvent and pH conditions for the photolysis reactions of (8-chloro-7-hydroxyquinolin-2-yl)methyl acetate (CHQ-OAc) and (8-bromo-7-hydroxyquinolin-2-yl)methyl acetate (BHQ-OAc), representatives of the quinoline class of phototriggers for biological use, and conducted nanosecond time-resolved spectroscopic studies using transient emission (ns-EM), transient absorption (ns-TA), transient resonance Raman (ns-TR2), and time-resolved resonance Raman (ns-TR3) spectroscopies. The results indicate differences in the photochemical mechanisms and product outcomes, and reveal that the triplet excited state is most likely on the pathway to the product and that dehalogenation competes with release of acetate from BHQ-OAc, but not CHQ-OAc. A high fluorescence quantum yield and a more efficient excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) in CHQ-OAc compared to BHQ-OAc explain the lower quantum efficiency of CHQ-OAc relative to BHQ-OAc.

Oxenium ions are important reactive intermediates in synthetic chemistry and enzymology, but little is known of the reactivity, lifetimes, spectroscopic signatures, and electronic configurations of these unstable species. Recent advances have allowed these short-lived ions to be directly detected in solution from laser flash photolysis of suitable photochemical precursors, but all of the studies to date have focused on aryloxenium ions having closed-shell singlet ground state configurations. To study alternative spin configurations, we synthesized a photoprecursor to the m-dimethylamino phenyloxenium ion, which is predicted by both density functional theory and MRMP2 computations to have a triplet ground state electronic configuration. A combination of femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, nanosecond time-resolved Resonance Raman spectroscopy (ns-TR 3 ), cryogenic matrix EPR spectroscopy, computational analysis, and photoproduct studies allowed us to trace essentially the complete arc of the photophysics and photochemistry of this photoprecursor and permitted a first look at a triplet oxenium ion. Ultraviolet photoexcitation of this precursor populates higher singlet excited states, which after internal conversion to S 1 over 800 fs are followed by bond heterolysis in ∼1 ps, generating a hot closed-shell singlet oxenium ion that undergoes vibrational cooling in ∼50 ps followed by intersystem crossing in ∼300 ps to generate the triplet ground state oxenium ion. In contrast to the rapid trapping of singlet phenyloxenium ions by nucleophiles seen in prior studies, the triplet oxenium ion reacts via sequential H atom abstractions on the microsecond time domain to ultimately yield the reduced m-dimethylaminophenol as the only detectable stable photoproduct. Band assignments were made by comparisons to computed spectra of candidate intermediates and comparisons to related known species. The triplet oxenium ion was also detected in the ns-TR 3 experiments, permitting a more clear assignment and identifying the triplet state as the π,π* triplet configuration. The triplet ground state of this ion was further supported by photolysis of the photoprecursor in an ethanol glass at ∼4 K and observing a triplet species by cryogenic EPR spectroscopy. Disciplines Materials Chemistry | Other Chemistry | Physical Chemistry CommentsReprinted (adapted) with permission from J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2015, 137 (32) ABSTRACT: Oxenium ions are important reactive intermediates in synthetic chemistry and enzymology, but little is known of the reactivity, lifetimes, spectroscopic signatures, and electronic configurations of these unstable species. Recent advances have allowed these short-lived ions to be directly detected in solution from laser flash photolysis of suitable photochemical precursors, but all of the studies to date have focused on aryloxenium ions having closed-shell singlet ground state configurations. To study alternative spin configurations, we synthesized a photoprecursor to the m-dimethylamino phe...

The photophysics and photochemistry of p-biphenylyl hydroxylamine hydrochloride was studied using laser flash photolysis ranging from the femtosecond to the microsecond time scale. The singlet excited state of this photoprecursor is formed within 350 fs and partitions into three different transients that are assigned to the pbiphenyloxy radical, the open-shell singlet p-biphenylyloxenium ion, and the triplet p-biphenylyloxenium ion, having lifetimes of 40 μs, 45 ps, and 1.6 ns, respectively, in CH 3 CN. The open-shell singlet pbiphenylyloxenium ion predominantly undergoes internal conversion to produce the closed-shell singlet pbiphenylyloxenium ion, which has a lifetime of 5-20 ns. The longer-lived radical is unambiguously assigned by nanosecond time-resolved resonance Raman (ns-TR 3 ) spectroscopy, and the assignment of the short-lived singlet and triplet oxenium ion transient absorptions are supported by matching time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) predictions of the absorptions of these species, as well as by product studies that implicate the intermediacy of charged electrophilic intermediates. Product studies from photolysis give pbiphenylol as the major product and a chloride adduct as the major product when NaCl is added as a trap. Thermolysis studies give p-biphenylol as a major product, as well as water, ammonium, and chloro adducts. These studies provide a rare direct look at a discrete oxenium ion intermediate and the first detection of openshell singlet and triplet configurations of an oxenium ion, as well as providing an intriguing example of the importance of excited state dynamics in governing the electronic state population of reactive intermediates. ABSTRACT: The photophysics and photochemistry of p-biphenylyl hydroxylamine hydrochloride was studied using laser flash photolysis ranging from the femtosecond to the microsecond time scale. The singlet excited state of this photoprecursor is formed within 350 fs and partitions into three different transients that are assigned to the p-biphenyloxy radical, the open-shell singlet p-biphenylyloxenium ion, and the triplet pbiphenylyloxenium ion, having lifetimes of 40 μs, 45 ps, and 1.6 ns, respectively, in CH 3 CN. The open-shell singlet p-biphenylyloxenium ion predominantly undergoes internal conversion to produce the closed-shell singlet p-biphenylyloxenium ion, which has a lifetime of 5−20 ns. The longer-lived radical is unambiguously assigned by nanosecond timeresolved resonance Raman (ns-TR 3 ) spectroscopy, and the assignment of the short-lived singlet and triplet oxenium ion transient absorptions are supported by matching time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) predictions of the absorptions of these species, as well as by product studies that implicate the intermediacy of charged electrophilic intermediates. Product studies from photolysis give p-biphenylol as the major product and a chloride adduct as the major product when NaCl is added as a trap. Thermolysis studies give p-biphenylol as a major product, as we...

Using Mn-doped CsPbCl3 nanocrystals (Mn:CsPbCl3 NCs) to improve perovskite’s properties is becoming an important strategy. Here, we demonstrate a modified supersaturated recrystallization route to synthesize high-quality Mn:CsPbCl3 NCs at room temperature. Unprecedentedly, sulfonate ligands with various concentrations are shown to successfully tune the dual-color emission of Mn:CsPbCl3 NCs. Ultrafast transient absorption studies reveal that the host-to-dopant internal energy-transfer process involves the mediated traps. Interestingly, the dual-color emission is tuned via stabilizing mediated traps with a small amount of ligand (band edge (BE) emission reduces and Mn2+ emission increases), passivating the deep traps with a large amount of ligand (Mn2+ emission increases), and destroying Mn:CsPbCl3 NCs with too much ligand (both BE and Mn2+ emission is quenched). Furthermore, the ligand tuning Mn2+ emission exhibits quenching for Cu2+ with high sensitivity and selectivity. Our work provides a new strategy to tune the optical properties of Mn:CsPbCl3 NCs and presents its potential application in an optical detector.