|
|
Excitation Energy Transfer in Photosynthetic Reaction Centres
Ptáček, Michal ; Mančal, Tomáš (advisor) ; Dostál, Jakub (referee)
The photosynthetic reaction centres have uppermost importance in photosynthesis. They represent the actual place where the energy carried by photons is turned into charge-separated states which then enable to establish the electrochemical H+ transmembrane gradient used by ATP synthases. The photosynthetic light- harvesting complexes gather the energy of light radiation and direct it in the form of electronic excitation energy into the reaction centres. The efficiency of this process is exceptionally high, close to unity, what is capturing the interest of researchers for decades. The development of experimental techniques has led to better understanding of this process down to atomic scale. Nowadays, this insight along with the theoretical basis stemming from quantum mechanics can be used to perform accurate computer simulations which can determine properties of the whole molecular aggregates independently of experiments. This thesis provides an introduction into the field of theoretical photosynthesis research, and it summarises the progress made in past two decades. The detailed theoretical approaches are being put into perspective of the reaction centres of photosynthetic purple bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides which is a valuable model organism. Both experimental and theoretical results of...
|
|
|
Artificial light-harvesting antenna based on an aggregation of bacteriochlorophyll c with selected pigments
Malina, Tomáš ; Pšenčík, Jakub (advisor) ; Litvín, Radek (referee)
Title: Artificial light-harvesting antenna based on an aggregation of bacteriochlorophyll c with selected pigments Author: Tomáš Malina Department: Department of Chemical Physics and Optics Supervisor of the master thesis: doc. RNDr. Jakub Pšenčík, Ph.D., KCHFO MFF UK Abstract: Solar energy is one of the most important energy sources for all living organisms. The light harvesting takes place in specialised photosynthetic complexes called antennas; they typically contain pigments held by a protein scaffold. Antennas of green bacteria, chlorosomes, are unique in this respect, for they do not need proteins to organise the pigments. The pigments contained in chlorosomes, bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) c, d or e, aggregate spontaneously. This self-aggregation can be used to form an artificial light-harvesting antenna the absorption spectrum of which can be extended by addition of other pigments. Antennas based on aggregation of BChl c with β-carotene and BChl a were prepared by a fast and slow method. The excitation energy transfer efficiency between these pigments was studied. The efficiency of energy transfer from BChl c to BChl a reached up to 95 %, the efficiency of energy transfer from β-carotene to BChl c was lower. An important role of β- carotene in artificial aggregates as well as in chlorosomes is its...
|
guest ::
