Photosynth Res (2009) 102:427–435
DOI 10.1007/s11120-009-9403-9
REVIEW
The solid-state photo-CIDNP effect
Jörg Matysik Æ Anna Diller Æ Esha Roy Æ
A. Alia
Received: 23 June 2008 / Accepted: 12 January 2009 / Published online: 24 February 2009
The Author(s) 2009. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract The solid-state photo-CIDNP effect is the
occurrence of a non-Boltzmann nuclear spin polarization in
rigid samples upon illumination. For solid-state NMR,
which can detect this enhanced nuclear polarization as a
strong modification of signal intensity, the effect allows for
new classes of experiments. Currently, the photo- and spinchemical machinery of various RCs is studied by photoCIDNP MAS NMR in detail. Until now, the effect has only
been observed at high magnetic fields with 13C and 15N
MAS NMR and in natural photosynthetic RC preparations
in which blocking of the acceptor leads to cyclic electron
transfer. In terms of irreversible thermodynamics, the highorder spin structure of the initial radical pair can be considered as a transient order phenomenon emerging under
non-equilibrium conditions and as a first manifestation of
order in the photosynthetic process. The solid-state photoCIDNP effect appears to be an intrinsic property of natural
RCs. The conditions of its occurrence seem to be conserved
in evolution. The effect may be based on the same fundamental principles as the highly optimized electron
transfer. Hence, the effect may allow for guiding artificial
photosynthesis.
Keywords Electron transfer Spin polarization
Radical pair Bacterial RC Solid-state NMR
Abbreviations
CIDNP
Chemically induced dynamic nuclear
polarization
CSA
Chemical shift anisotropy
J. Matysik (&) A. Diller E. Roy A. Alia
Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 55,
P.O. Box 9502, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
e-mail:
[email protected]
DD
ENDOR
EPR
Hf
HOMO
ISC
MAS
MFE
photo-CIDEP
photo-CIDNP
PSI, II
Rb.
RPM
S
T
TSM
Differential decay
Electron nuclear double resonance
Electron paramagnetic resonance
Hyperfine
Highest occupied molecular orbital
Inter-system crossing
Magic angle spinning
Magnetic field effect
Photochemically induced dynamic
electron polarization
Photochemically induced dynamic nuclear
polarization
Photosystems I, II
Rhodobacter
Radical pair mechanism
Singlet
Triplet
Three-spin mixing
Photo-CIDNP MAS NMR as spectroscopic method
Due to small Zeeman splitting and resulting unfavorable
Boltzmann distribution, all magnetic resonance methods
are intrinsically low in sensitivity. The solid-state photoCIDNP effect has been shown to be a method to overcome
this limitation for magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR by
photochemical production of non-Boltzmann nuclear spin
states and to allow for detailed studies of the photochemical machineries of RCs (Zysmilich and McDermott 1994;
for reviews: Jeschke and Matysik 2003; Daviso et al.
2008a). Signal enhancement of a factor of about 10,000 for
13
C NMR (Fig. 1) has been observed in several RCs
(Prakash et al. 2005a, 2006; Roy et al. 2006). The
corresponding ratio of the nuclear spin populations of
pb/pa = 1.2329 could be expressed in terms of a spin
123
428
Photosynth Res (2009) 102:427–435
photo-CIDNP MAS NMR experiments allowed for determination of the electron spin density distribution of
the radical pair at the atomic resolution and precise kinetic
modeling (Daviso et al. 2008b). On the other hand,
the donors of the RCs of the green sulfur bacteria
Chlorobium tepidum (Roy et al. 2007) and of the Heliobacterium mobilis (Roy et al. 2008) have been shown to be
monomeric or highly symmetric. The donor of photosystem II (PS2) has been shown to have a highly asymmetric
electron spin distribution (Matysik et al. 2000a) which has
been proposed to be caused by involvement of an axial
histidine (Diller et al. 2007b). In contrast, the cofactors in
the donor of photosystem I (PSI) are undisturbed (Alia
et al. 2004).
Fig. 1 13C MAS NMR spectra of isolated RCs of Rb. sphaeroides
R26 (A, B) and WT (C, D) in the dark (A, C) and under illumination
with continuous white light. All spectra were obtained at 4.7 Tesla
(200 MHz proton frequency) with a cycle delay of 4 seconds at a
temperature of 230 K (Prakash et al. 2005a, b, 2006)
temperature of TS = -0.01146 K. Although temperatures
are defined for equilibrium state only, this number may
provide an impression about the high degree of spin order
obtained. Until now, photo-CIDNP MAS NMR has been
measured at fields between 4.7 and 17.6 Tesla, and the
enhancement factor is usually the highest at lowest field
(Prakash et al. 2005a, 2006; Roy et al. 2006, 2008). Full
control over the parameters governing the generation of
nuclear polarization may allow for enhancement by a factor
of 100,000 (Jeschke and Matysik 2003). The strong signal
enhancement allows for direct observation of the photochemical machinery of RCs in membranes (Roy et al.
2008) or cells (Prakash et al. 2006). Furthermore, the solidstate photo-CIDNP effect also provides new channels for
signal recovery allowing to increase the cycle delay and to
shorten the measuring time (Diller et al. 2007a).
The strong increase of NMR signal intensity and
selectivity allows for detailed analysis of the electronic
structure of the active cofactors. The NMR chemical shifts
are related to the electronic structure of the electronic
ground state after the photocycle, and the photo-CIDNP
intensities are related to local electron spin densities.
Hence, photo-CIDNP MAS NMR allows for investigation
of both, the electronic ground state and the radical pair
state. This method has shown that the special pair of RCs
of Rhodobacter (Rb.) sphaeroides wildtype (WT) is
already asymmetric in its electronic ground state (Schulten
et al. 2002), although the origin of the asymmetry is not yet
understood. In the radical cation state, the ratio between the
two moieties has been determined to be around 3:2
(Prakash et al. 2005a), which is in good agreement with
1
H ENDOR data (Lendzian et al. 1993). Time-resolved
123
Occurrence and origin of the solid-state photo-CIDNP
effect
Photochemical induced dynamic nuclear polarization
(photo-CIDNP) is a well-known phenomenon in liquid
NMR (for reviews: Hore and Broadhurst 1993; Roth 1996;
Goez 1997). In this article, the term ‘‘polarization’’ is
exclusively used for spin polarization, i.e., the difference in
population of a and b nuclear or electron spins. Chemical
induced dynamic nuclear polarization (CIDNP) has first
been reported to occur in dark organic radical reactions in
1967 (Bargon and Fischer 1967; Bargon et al. 1967; Ward
and Lawler 1967). Soon, CIDNP has been also observed in a
photochemical reaction (Cocivera 1968). The term
‘‘photochemical induced dynamic nuclear polarization
(photo-CIDNP)’’ refers to this specific photochemical origin
of the phenomenon. CIDNP has been explained by the
radical pair mechanism (RPM) (Closs and Closs 1969;
Kaptein and Oosterhoff 1969). This mechanism is caused by
different nuclear spin sorting leading to different chemical
fates of the products. Due to coherent S-T0 mixing, upon
inter-system crossing (ISC) the spin state of the radical pair
is oscillating between a singlet- and a triplet-state. The
radicals forming a singlet-radical pair may recombine, while
the triplet products are forced to diffuse apart. Hence, this
mechanism requires mobility and can build-up CIDNP only
in the fluid phase. Later, the mechanism has been extended
to S-T? and S-T- mixing as well, for example occurring in
biradicals and at low fields (Closs and Doubleday 1972;
de Kanter et al. 1977). In addition, also an electron–nuclear
Overhauser cross-relaxation mechanism operating in liquid
state has been observed, (Adrian 1974; Closs 1975) which
also explains polarization buildup in cyclic reactions (Closs
et al. 1985). In a triplet Overhauser mechanism (Adrian
1977) nuclear polarization is created upon ISC from an
excited singlet- to a triplet-state. While the RPM is based on
fast coherent evolution of an electron–electron–nuclear spin
Photosynth Res (2009) 102:427–435
system and spin state sorting in alternative reaction pathways, the Overhauser mechanism relies on usually slower
incoherent cross relaxation that transfers polarization from
electrons to nuclei. The latter mechanism requires a
matching of the cross-relaxation time to the life time of the
radical pair, while transient polarization from the RPM
cancels under steady-state conditions for cyclic reactions.
In the same time, two other spin-chemical phenomena
were discovered in photosynthetic systems: (i) photochemically induced dynamic electron polarization (photo-CIDEP),
which is enhancement of EPR signals upon illumination, has
been observed in chloroplasts (Blankenship et al. 1975) and
RCs of purple bacteria (Hoff et al. 1977a) (ii) the magnetic
field effect (MFE) on the triplet yield was discovered in
bacterial RCs (Blankenship et al. 1977; Hoff et al. 1977b).
Although the exact mechanism was not understood, both
phenomena were interpreted in terms of magnetic-field
dependent interactions of electrons with nuclei (Hoff et al.
1977b; Werner et al. 1978; for review: Hoff 1984). Based on
this assessment, ‘‘new classes of experiments’’ were predicted for NMR (Goldstein and Boxer 1987). In 1994,
Zysmilich and McDermott observed for the first time this
new type of photo-CIDNP in frozen and quinone-blocked
RCs of purple bacteria of Rb. sphaeroides R26 (Zysmilich
and McDermott 1994). Meanwhile, the exact spin-chemical
mechanism is much better understood (Jeschke and Matysik
2003; Daviso et al. 2008a). In particular, experiments on the
magnetic field dependence (Prakash et al. 2005a, 2006), with
different NMR cycle delays (Diller et al. 2007a) and with
time-resolution using flash laser (Daviso et al. 2008b)
allowed for deeper insight. In these studies, it has been
demonstrated that up to three mechanisms are involved to
build up photo-CIDNP under continuous illumination,
which may run in parallel. In all mechanisms the break of the
balance of the opposite nuclear spin populations in the two
decay branches of the radical pair states (Fig. 2) leads to net
steady-state nuclear polarization, which is detected in the
NMR experiment. In time-resolved photo-CIDNP MAS
NMR experiments, transient nuclear polarization, due to the
different kinetics on the two decay channels of the radical
pair (see below), may occur additionally (Daviso et al.
2008b). This phenomenon, however, will not be discussed
further in the present review.
Initially, the spin-correlated radical pair is formed in a
pure singlet state and it is, therefore, highly electron
polarized (Fig. 2). This electron polarization can be
observed by EPR as photo-CIDEP. There are two transfer
mechanisms which transfer this electron polarization to
nuclear polarization:
(i)
Electron–electron–nuclear three-spin mixing (TSM)
breaks the balance of the two radical pair decay
channels by spin evolution within the correlated
429
Excited state S
High electron
polarisation
P*
3 ps
Three-spin
mixing
Radical Pair T
Radical Pair S
Φ
P+
ISC
Φ20 ns
hν
Ground state S
P
Differential
decay
Differential
relaxation
WT: 100 ns
R26: 100 µs
P+
Φ1 ns
Donor triplet T
P3
Φ
Φ
Fig. 2 The mechanisms of photo-CIDNP production in natural RCs
of Rb. sphaeroides WT and R26 as established for high-field
conditions. From the photochemically excited donor, P*, an electron
is transferred to the primary acceptor U, a bacteriopheophytin. The
radical pair (P?•U-•) is initially in a pure singlet state and highly
electron polarized. Due to hyperfine interaction, the radical pair is
oscillating between a singlet and a T0 triplet state. During intersystem
crossing (ISC), electron polarization is transferred to nuclei by threespin mixing (TSM). Back-ET from the singlet state of the radical pair
leads to the electronic ground-state. Back-ET from the triplet state of
the radical pair leads to the donor triplet (3P) state. In the differential
decay (DD) mechanism, net photo-CIDNP is produced by different
contributions of the two spin states of the spin-correlated radical pair
to the spin evolution. In RCs having a long lifetime of the donor
triplet, 3P, as in R26, the differential relaxation (DR) mechanism
occurs since nuclear spin relaxation is significant on the triplet
branch, causing incomplete cancellation of nuclear polarization of
both branches
radical pair state depending on the signs of the
electron–electron and of the electron–nuclear interactions (Jeschke 1997, 1998). This process occurs during
ISC in solids. In contrast to Overhauser cross relaxation, it is a coherent process that relies on anisotropy
of the hyperfine (hf) coupling. The mechanism requires
fulfillment of the triple-matching condition 2|DX| =
2|xI| = |A|, which means that the difference of the
electron Zeeman frequencies DX must match the
nuclear Zeeman frequency xI, and that both together
must match to the secular (diagonal) part of the hf
interaction. This corresponds to a matching of three
energy levels enabling the flow of polarization from an
electron spin pair to a nucleus. This transfer is driven by
the pseudosecular (off-diagonal) part B of the hf
interaction. As this pseudosecular part vanishes when
hf anisotropy is averaged, the TSM mechanism is
absent in the liquid state.
(ii) In the differential decay (DD) mechanism, (Polenova
and McDermott 1999) the symmetry between the two
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430
Photosynth Res (2009) 102:427–435
decay channels is broken by the different lifetimes of
the states of the correlated radical pair. This means
that in the two radical pair spin states different
fractions of polarization flow from the electrons to the
nuclei. The result is an additional imbalance between
the fractions of nuclei in spin-up and spin-down states
in the two decay channels. In this case, the energetic
matching condition is just 2|xI| = |A|. Again an
anisotropic hf coupling is required, so that the DD
mechanism is also absent in the liquid state. In this
mechanism both coherent spin-state mixing and
incoherent radical pair decay contribute to polarization transfer. The efficiency of this mechanism
depends on the ratio of both lifetimes. It is remarkable that nature has chosen a ratio which maximizes
this effect (Fig. 3) (Jeschke and Matysik 2003).
In addition to the two polarization transfer mechanisms
TSM and DD, in samples having a long lifetime of the
triplet donor (3P), a third mechanism may occur that creates nuclear polarization:
(iii)
In the differential relaxation (DR) mechanism the
breaking of antisymmetry of the polarization in the
singlet and triplet branch occurs in a non-coherent
way. The enhanced relaxation of nuclear spins in the
proximity of the high-spin donor partially cancels the
nuclear polarization in the donor cofactor. Hence,
when the 3P lifetime is comparable to or exceeds the
paramagnetically enhanced longitudinal relaxation
time, net polarization occurs due to partial extinction
of nuclear polarization of the triplet state of the
Fig. 3 Dependence of the DD mechanism of the solid-state photoCIDNP effect on the lifetime of the radical pair. The value found for
RCs of Rb. sphaeroides coincides with the maximum effect. TS and
TT are the lifetimes of the singlet and the triplet state of the radical
pair, respectively
123
radical pair (Goldstein and Boxer 1987; McDermott
et al. 1998). This extinction of polarization also leads
to a significantly enhanced recovery rate of the
polarization in steady-state experiments (Diller et al.
2007a).
TSM and DD are coherent mechanisms transferring
polarization from electrons to nuclei, while the DR creates
nuclear net polarization by partial extinction of the polarization of a selected sort of nuclear spins. In RCs of
Rb. sphaeroides WT at high magnetic fields, the TSM
leads to an excess of b nuclear spins in the branch of the
triplet radical pair decay, and the DD causes an excess of a
nuclear spins in the branch of the singlet radical pair decay.
The TSM, however, is larger than the DD contribution, and
due to the total majority of b spins all signals turn negative
(emissive) (Prakash et al. 2005a). In RCs of Rb. sphaeroides R26, in which the absence of the carotenoid causes a
3
P lifetime of *100 ls, the DR appears to occur in addition to the TSM and DD. The DR adds more a than b
nuclear spins to the net spin balance of the donor carbons,
turning selectively the donor signals enhanced absorptive
(positive) (Prakash et al. 2006). In any case, these transient
spin structures are highly ordered, or, to put it in the terminology of thermodynamics, are low in spin entropy.
Irreversible thermodynamics and the solid-state
photo-CIDNP effect
Photosynthesis itself can be considered as one of these
processes of emerging order, as it has already been anticipated by Boltzmann in 1886:
Der allgemeine Lebenskampf der Lebewesen ist daher
nicht ein Kampf um die Grundstoffe—die Grundstoffe aller
Organismen sind in Luft, Wasser und Erdboden im Überfluß vorhanden—auch nicht um Energie, welche in Form
von Wärme, leider unverwandelbar, in jedem Körper
reichlich vorhanden ist, sondern ein Kampf um die Entropie, welche durch den Übergang der Energie von der
heißen Sonne zur kalten Erde disponibel wird. Diesen
Übergang möglichst auszunutzen, breiten die Pflanzen die
unermeßlichen Flächen ihrer Blätter aus und zwingen die
Sonnenenergie in noch unerforschter Weise, ehe sie auf das
Temperaturniveau der Erdoberfläche herabsinkt, chemische Synthesen auszuführen, von denen man in unseren
Laboratorien noch keine Ahnung hat. Die Produkte dieser
chemischen Küche bilden das Kampfobjekt für die
Tierwelt. (Boltzmann 1886):
[The general struggle of all life forms is therefore not a
struggle for the elements—the elements air, water, and
earth are available in excess. It is also not a struggle
for energy, which in the form of heat, unfortunately
Photosynth Res (2009) 102:427–435
non-transformable, is amply available in each organism. It
is rather a struggle for entropy, which becomes available
through the transition of energy from the hot sun to the cold
earth. In order to make use of this transition, plants open
the huge surfaces of their leaves and force the sun’s energy,
before it cools down to the temperature of the earth, to
carry out chemical reactions in a still unknown way of
which we in our laboratories have no idea. The products of
this chemical kitchen are what the animal world seeks to
attain (Translation by Johannes Blum-Seebach, Gießen)].
The surface of the earth can be approximated as a closed
system, over which a continuous flow of solar radiative
energy pours and dissipates into the cold universe. As
described by irreversible thermodynamics, under such
conditions of high energy throughput and entropy production, ordered structures may emerge. Negentropy (i.e.,
order) is created locally in a system which is surrounded by
an ocean of dissipative entropy production. Examples are
found in the world of dead matter as well as in the biosphere (for reviews see Kondepudi and Prigogine 1998;
Haken 2004). Life, being stable far from equilibrium, as
already pointed out by Schrödinger (1944), can be understood in terms of dissipative structures as well. Doubtless,
photosynthesis plays a key role for the occurrence of living
order on earth. As proposed by Boltzmann, it is the
negentropy stored in the photosynthetic products which
maintain the structures of life.
The photosynthetic membrane appears to be the location
at which the high and dissipative energy through-put
occurs, and in which negentropy is created for terrestrial
life. The radical pair formation is the first step of the
process of order formation. The separation of charges as
well as the organization of the electron spins lead to a
transient high-order (i.e., low-entropy) state. Hence, photoCIDEP can be considered as the first product of photosynthetic production of order. The solid-state photo-CIDNP
effect might be considered as part of this initial process of
photosynthetic construction of order. Since the energies
involved are marginally compared to the reaction energies,
only kinetic effects of the spin-chemistry on the reaction
yield could be considered. In fact, various magnetic-field
effects on plant growth have been observed experimentally
(For reviews, see Belyavskaya 2004; Galland and Pazur
2005).
On the other hand, one may argue that the solid-state
photo-CIDNP effect as observed till now does not occur
under natural conditions but requires high magnetic fields
and cyclic electron transfer, which is reached, for example
in RCs of Rb. sphaeroides by reduction or removal of the
quinones. Therefore, one may consider the solid-state
photo-CIDNP effect as a by-process, occurring under
artificial conditions, which is accidentally a very useful as
an analytical tool for the electronic structure of the
431
photochemical machinery of RCs. In any case, due to its
limited size and complexity as well as due to its relevance,
the order and dissipation processes of spins during the
radical pair formation in photosynthetic RCs provide a
stimulating target for irreversible thermodynamics of
microscopic processes.
Intrinsic property of RCs
The list of RCs showing the solid-state photo-CIDNP effect
is growing (Table 1). The list contains systems from various
bacteria as well as from plants. In all natural RCs, in which
we were able to induce cyclic ET, we observed the solidstate photo-CIDNP effect as well. It appears that the
occurrence of the solid-state photo-CIDNP effect is an
intrinsic property of photosynthetic RCs (Roy et al. 2008).
Despite various concepts of evolution of photosynthetic
organisms compete in the literature, it is safe to say that the
bacterial systems showing photo-CIDNP, green sulfur bacteria, purple non-sulfur bacteria and heliobacteria, originate
from very different branches of the evolutionary tree
(Fig. 4). The window of occurrence (see e.g., Fig. 3) of this
effect is rather limited by kinetic and magnetic parameters
(Jeschke and Matysik 2003; Daviso et al. 2008a), however, it
appears that the evolution remains confined on a small area
of the infinite parameter landscape. Although a lucky coincidence cannot be ruled out, it appears that the solid-state
photo-CIDNP effect is highly conserved in the evolution of
photosynthetic organisms. Despite many efforts, in no artificial RC system, having generally low-quantum yield, the
solid-state photo-CIDNP effect has been observed yet.
Therefore, there seems to be a link between the conditions of
occurrence of photo-CIDNP in RCs and the conditions of the
unsurpassed efficient light-induced electron transfer in RCs.
Such link also could allow using the strength of the solidstate photo-CIDNP effect as a heuristic guide to improve the
functional properties of artificial RCs.
Solid-state photo-CIDNP effect and efficient electron
transfer
The question occurs on the character of the assumed link
between the solid-state photo-CIDNP effect and efficient
electron transfer. The phenomenon of the solid-state photoCIDNP effect is akin to a non-equilibrium phenomenon
known in EPR which is called ‘‘observer spin’’. In a spin
triad formed by a spin-correlated radical pair, for example,
a radical cation–radical anion pair [D?•A-•] and the
observer spin R•, the observer spin may act as an electron
spin catalyst facilitating the radical pair reaction (for
review see Ivanov 2005). The observer spin may acquire
123
432
Table 1 Systems in which the
solid-state photo-CIDNP effect
has been observed
Photosynth Res (2009) 102:427–435
Species
Reference
13
15
Spinacia oleracea (Spinach): PS1
Alia et al. (2004)
Diller et al. (2007b)
Spinacia oleracea (Spinach): PS2
Matysik et al. (2000a)
Diller et al. (2007b)
C
N
Plants
Diller et al. (2005)
Purple bacteria
Rhodobacter sphaeroides WT
Schulten et al. (2002)
Daviso et al. (2008c)
Prakash et al. (2005a)
Rhodobacter sphaeroides R26
Zysmilich and
McDermott (1996a)
Zysmilich and
McDermott (1994, (1996b)
Matysik et al. (2000b)
Prakash et al. (2005b)
Prakash et al. (2006)
Daviso et al. (2008c)
Diller et al. (2008)
Rhodopseudomonas acidophila
Gram positive bacteria
Roy et al. (2008)
Heliobactrium mobilis
Green sulfur bacteria
Roy et al. (2007)
Chlorobium tepidum
Fig. 4 Phylogenetic tree based
on the small subunit RNA
method. Groups containing
(B)Chl-based photosynthetic
organisms are encircled (from:
Blankenship 2002). The solidstate photo-CIDNP effect has
been observed in purple
bacteria, green sulfur bacteria,
gram positives and plants.
Heliobacteria belong to the
gram positive organisms
Green
sulphur
Eukarya
Archaea
Bacteria
Entamoebae
Green
non-sulphur
Methanosarcina
Methanobacterium
Gram
positives
Purple
Thermoproteus
Pyrodictium
Cyanobacteria
Flavobacteria
Methanococcus
Slime
molds
Animals
Fungi
Halophiles
Plants, algae
Ciliates
Thermococcus celer
Flagellates
Tichomonads
Thermotogales
Microsporidia
Diplomonads
significant non-Boltzmann electron polarization, and this
CIDEP has been taken as an indication of its catalytic
activity. For example, in the primary radical pair of bacterial RCs, the pre-reduced first quinone acceptor QA-•
obtains significant CIDEP (Gast and Hoff 1979; Gast et al.
1983; de Groot et al. 1985). For the ET from QA to QB a
spin-catalytic role of the non-heme iron to facilitate spinselective ET has been proposed (Ivanov et al. 1999). In this
concept ISC accelerated by the spin-catalytic active nonheme iron promotes the indirect ET from the triplet radical
pair 3[QA-QB-] and therefore the product formation to
1
[QAQB2-]. One may assume that the phenomenon of the
123
solid-state photo-CIDNP effect could be rationalized in
terms of nuclear observer spins, on the one hand obtaining
nuclear polarization, on the other hand providing a spincatalyst for ET. Under natural conditions, however, the
primary radical pair lives 200 ps, by far too short to allow
for hf interaction. Hence, the effect cannot be the cause of
the efficiency, but the assumed correlation between the
parallel occurrence of effect and high efficiency may be
based on common principles. There may be some until now
unknown fundamental principles of photosynthetic charge
separation and stabilization that leading to both phenomena. In that case, photo-CIDNP MAS NMR would be
Photosynth Res (2009) 102:427–435
useful for studies in artificial photosynthesis for three
reasons: (i) as an analytical tool, (ii) as heuristic guide
based on the strength of the effect, and (iii) by the possibility for exploration of the fundamental principles.
These fundamental principles may be related to highly
optimized constraints in geometry and ET kinetics as
chosen and conserved by nature. It has been pointed out
that both the solid-state photo-CIDNP effect and the efficient light-induced ET require optimized overlap of the
wavefunctions (Jeschke and Matysik 2003) corresponding
to moderate electron–electron coupling parameters. A clear
picture of the required architecture of orbitals, however, is
still missing. Such concept of overlapping static orbitals of
the cofactors would be sufficient for the microscopic
description of both the ET and the coherent origin of the
solid-state photo-CIDNP effect. On the other hand,
understanding of both processes on the protein level would
allow for including the dynamic role of energy dissipation
and entropy production in the transfer of electrons and
polarization. It is possible that both ET and the solid-state
photo-CIDNP effect require optimized dissipation channels. The relevance of protein relaxation for photosynthetic
ET has been stressed (Cherepanov et al. 2001). Under
conditions of irreversible thermodynamics, self-organized
ET, in which improved entropy management allows for
active coupling of the ET to a matrix with non-linear
response, may lead to negative friction and gating
(Tributsch and Pohlmann 1998; Tributsch 2006). Hence,
experiments mapping light-induced changes at the atomic
resolution may provide the empirical basis for the determination of the origin of the parallel transfer of electrons
and of electron polarization to nuclei.
Summary and outlook
The solid-state photo-CIDNP effect is a non-Boltzmann
spin state which could be described as order phenomenon
by irreversible thermodynamics. 13C and 15N photo-CIDNP
MAS NMR has been demonstrated to be a valuable analytical tool for the functional analysis of the primary
photochemical machinery of RCs, although several possible applications have not yet been explored. It appears that
the solid-state photo-CIDNP effect is an intrinsic property
of natural RCs and correlated to efficient ET. The spinchemical mechanisms causing the solid-state photo-CIDNP
effect are understood, but it still has to be explored why
nature has chosen and conserved a set of electronic and
kinetic parameters leading to both, efficient ET and the
solid-state photo-CIDNP effect.
Acknowledgments The authors thank E. Daviso, G. Jeschke, T.
Rohmer, KB. Sai Sankar Gupta, G.J. Janssen and S. Thamarath-
433
Surendran for stimulating discussions. This project has been supported
by a grant of the Volkswagen-Stiftung (I/78010, Förderinitiative
Elektrontransfer) and by an NWO Vidi grant (700 53 423) to J.M.
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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