We provide a new and definitive spectral assignment for the absorption, emission, high-resolution fluorescence excitation, linear dichroism, and/or magnetic circular dichroism spectra of 32 chlorophyllides in various environments. This encompases all data used to justify previous assignments and provides a simple interpretation of unexplained complex decoherence phenomena associated with Qx → Qy relaxation. Whilst most chlorophylls conform to the Gouterman model and display two independent transitions Qx (S2) and Qy (S1), strong vibronic coupling inseparably mixes these states in chlorophyll-a. This spreads x-polarized absorption intensity over the entire Q-band system to influence all exciton-transport, relaxation and coherence properties of chlorophyll-based photosystems. The fraction of the total absorption intensity attributed to Qx ranges between 7% and 33%, depending on chlorophyllide and coordination, and is between 10% and 25% for chlorophyll-a. CAM-B3LYP density-functional-theory calculations of the band origins, relative intensities, vibrational Huang-Rhys factors, and vibronic coupling strengths fully support this new assignment.

Low- and high-resolution absorption and fluorescence emission Q(y) spectra of bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl a) were recorded, along with homogeneous band line shapes, revealing significant asymmetry between the absorption and emission profiles that are interpreted using a priori spectral calculations. The spectra were recorded in a range of organic solvents facilitating both penta- and hexa-coordination of Mg at ambient and cryogenic temperatures. Detailed vibrational structure in the ground electronic state, virtually independent of Mg coordination, was revealed at 4.5 K by a hole-burning fluorescence line-narrowing technique, complementing the high-resolution spectrum of the excited state measured previously by hole burning to provide the first complete description of the Q(y) absorption and fluorescence spectra of BChl a. Spectral asymmetry persists from 4.5 to 298 K. Time-dependent density-functional theory calculations of the gas-phase absorption and emission spectra obtained using the CAM-B3LYP density functional, curvilinear coordinates, and stretch-bend-torsion scaling factors fitted to data for free-base porphyrin quantitatively predict the observed frequencies of the most-significant vibrational modes as well as the observed absorption∕emission asymmetry. Most other semi-empirical, density-functional, and ab initio computational methods severely overestimate the electron-vibrational coupling and its asymmetry. It is shown that the asymmetry arises primarily through Duschinsky rotation.

While the majority of the photochemical states and pathways related to the biological capture of solar energy are now well understood and provide paradigms for artificial device design, additional low-energy states have been discovered in many systems with obscure origins and significance. However, as low-energy states are naively expected to be critical to function, these observations pose important challenges. A review of known properties of low energy states covering eight photochemical systems, and options for their interpretation, are presented. A concerted experimental and theoretical research strategy is suggested and outlined, this being aimed at providing a fully comprehensive understanding.

Evidence for the formation of self-trapped exciton states in photosynthetic antenna complexes is provided by comparing single-molecule fluorescence-excitation and emission spectra that have been recorded from the same individual LH2 complex from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila . While the excitation spectra showed the signatures for the B800 and B850 bands as observed previously, two distinctively different types of emission spectra were found. One group of antenna complexes shows spectra with a relatively narrow spectral profile with a clear signature of a zero-phonon line, whereas the other group of complexes displays spectra that consist only of a broad featureless band. Analysis of these data reveals clear correlations between the spectral position of the emission, the width of the spectral profile, and the associated electron-phonon coupling strength.

Integral membrane proteins constitute more than third of the total number of proteins present in organisms. Solubilization with mild detergents is a common technique to study the structure, dynamics, and catalytic activity of these proteins in purified form. However beneficial the use of detergents may be for protein extraction, the membrane proteins are often denatured by detergent solubilization as a result of native lipid membrane interactions having been modified. Versatile investigations of the properties of membrane-embedded and detergent-isolated proteins are, therefore, required to evaluate the consequences of the solubilization procedure. Herein, the spectroscopic and kinetic fingerprints have been established that distinguish excitons in individual detergent-solubilized LH2 light-harvesting pigment-protein complexes from them in the membrane-embedded complexes of purple photosynthetic bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides. A wide arsenal of spectroscopic techniques in visible optical range that include conventional broadband absorption-fluorescence, fluorescence anisotropy excitation, spectrally selective hole burning and fluorescence line-narrowing, and transient absorption-fluorescence have been applied over broad temperature range between physiological and liquid He temperatures. Significant changes in energetics and dynamics of the antenna excitons upon self-assembly of the proteins into intracytoplasmic membranes are observed, analyzed, and discussed. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Photosynthesis Research for Sustainability: from Natural to Artificial.