Stimulus-responsive light-harvesting complexes based on the pillararene-induced co-assembly of β-carotene and chlorophyll.

ABSTRACT: The locations and arrangements of carotenoids at the subcellular level are responsible for their designated functions, which reinforces the necessity of developing methods for constructing carotenoid-based suprastructures beyond the molecular level. Because carotenoids lack the binding sites necessary for controlled interactions, functional structures based on carotenoids are not easily obtained. Here, we show that carotene-based suprastructures were formed via the induction of pillararene through a phase-transfer-mediated host-guest interaction. More importantly, similar to the main component in natural photosynthesis, complexes could be synthesized after chlorophyll was introduced into the carotene-based suprastructure assembly process. Remarkably, compared with molecular carotene or chl

SUBMITTER: Sun Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4931247 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature