The composite gold nanorods (Au NRs) having a double-shell structure composed of Au NR (core), spacer layer (inner shell), and J-aggregate (JA) layer (outer shell) have been synthesized to examine the spectroscopic properties of the hybrid system in which the localized surface plasmon is coupled with the molecular exciton of JA. The spacer layer consisting of N,N,N-trimethyl(11-mercaptoundecyl)ammonium chloride plays a significant role in the formation of JA shell for several kinds of cyanine dyes. The absorption spectra of composite NRs are characterized by a distinct dip near the J-band when the plasmon energy of Au core is close to the exciton energy of JA shell, whereas a normal J-band peak appears when two energies are widely different from each other. The gradual change from the dip type to peak type absorption was observed when the plasmon energy was modulated by varying the aspect ratio of Au NR. Furthermore, composite NRs with thicker spacer layers have been fabricated by inserting the multilayer shell of polyelectrolytes between TMA and JA layers. They exhibited an alteration of the spectral line shape from the dip type to peak type with increase in the thickness of spacer layer. These observations have been interpreted in terms of the strength of the exciton-plasmon coupling, which is sensitive to the configuration of composite NRs as well as the relative difference between plasmon and exciton energies.

Typical purple bacterial photosynthetic units consist of supra-molecular arrays of peripheral (LH2) and core (LH1-RC) antenna complexes. Recent atomic force microscopy pictures of photosynthetic units in intact membranes have revealed that the architecture of these units is variable (Scheuring et al. (2005) Biochim Bhiophys Acta 1712:109-127). In this study, we describe methods for the construction of heterologous photosynthetic units in lipid-bilayers from mixtures of purified LH2 (from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila) and LH1-RC (from Rhodopseudomonas viridis) core complexes. The architecture of these reconstituted photosynthetic units can be varied by controlling ratio of added LH2 to core complexes. The arrangement of the complexes was visualized by electron-microscopy in combination with Fourier analysis. The regular trigonal array of the core complexes seen in the native photosynthetic membrane could be regenerated in the reconstituted membranes by temperature cycling. In the presence of added LH2 complexes, this trigonal symmetry was replaced with orthorhombic symmetry. The small lattice lengths for the latter suggest that the constituent unit of the orthorhombic lattice is the LH2. Fluorescence and fluorescence-excitation spectroscopy was applied to the set of the reconstituted membranes prepared with various proportions of LH2 to core complexes. Remarkably, even though the LH2 complexes contain bacteriochlorophyll a, and the core complexes contain bacteriochlorophyll b, it was possible to demonstrate energy transfer from LH2 to the core complexes. These experiments provide a first step along the path toward investigating how changing the architecture of purple bacterial photosynthetic units affects the overall efficiency of light-harvesting.

The aggregation state of a mixed monolayer of palmitic acid (C16) and lignoceric acid (C24) was investigated on the basis of a π-A isotherm measurement and a scanning probe microscopic observation. The independence of the plateau and collapse pressures on the monolayer composition and the additivity of the average molecular area exhibited that the C16 and C24 molecules were immiscible in the monolayer, indirectly suggesting the presence of phase-separated domains in the system. Two kinds of regions with different heights were apparently observed on an atomic force microscope image of the mixed monolayers. The change in the area fraction with the composition, the film thickness and the difference in the lateral force of the two regions revealed that the (C16/C24) mixed monolayer was in a phase-separated state. This phase separation is probably due to an enthalpic contribution based on the difference in cohesive energy of each alkyl chain.