Control of Protonated Schiff Base Excited State Decay within Visual Protein Mimics: A Unified Model for Retinal Chromophores.

ABSTRACT: Artificial biomimetic chromophore-protein complexes inspired by natural visual pigments can feature color tunability across the full visible spectrum. However, control of excited state dynamics of the retinal chromophore, which is of paramount importance for technological applications, is lacking due to its complex and subtle photophysics/photochemistry. Here, ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations are combined for the study of highly tunable rhodopsin mimics, as compared to retinal chromophores in solution. Conical intersections and transient fluorescent intermediates are identified with atomistic resolution, providing unambiguous assignment of their ultrafast excited state absorption features. The results point out that the elect

SUBMITTER: Demoulin B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8906800 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature