Biomaterial Database

Direct observation of the femtosecond excited-state cis-trans isomerization in bacteriorhodopsin. 1988

R A Mathies, and C H Brito Cruz, and W T Pollard, and C V Shank

Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley 94720.

Femtosecond optical measurement techniques have been used to study the primary photoprocesses in the light-driven transmembrane proton pump bacteriorhodopsin. Light-adapted bacteriorhodopsin was excited with a 60-femtosecond pump pulse at 618 nanometers, and the transient absorption spectra from 560 to 710 nanometers were recorded from -50 to 1000 femtoseconds by means of 6-femtosecond probe pulses. By 60 femtoseconds, a broad transient hole appeared in the absorption spectrum whose amplitude remained constant for about 200 femtoseconds. Stimulated emission in the 660- to 710-nanometer region and excited-state absorption in the 560- to 580-nanometer region appeared promptly and then shifted and decayed from 0 to approximately 150 femtoseconds. These spectral features provide a direct observation of the 13-trans to 13-cis torsional isomerization of the retinal chromophore on the excited-state potential surface. Absorption due to the primary ground-state photoproduct J appears with a time constant of approximately 500 femtoseconds.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007536	Isomerism	The phenomenon whereby certain chemical compounds have structures that are different although the compounds possess the same elemental composition. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 5th ed)	Isomerisms
D010777	Photochemistry	A branch of physical chemistry which studies chemical reactions, isomerization and physical behavior that may occur under the influence of visible and/or ultraviolet light.	Photochemistries
D006217	Halobacterium	A genus of HALOBACTERIACEAE whose growth requires a high concentration of salt. Binary fission is by constriction.
D001436	Bacteriorhodopsins	Rhodopsins found in the PURPLE MEMBRANE of halophilic archaea such as HALOBACTERIUM HALOBIUM. Bacteriorhodopsins function as an energy transducers, converting light energy into electrochemical energy via PROTON PUMPS.	Bacteriorhodopsin
D013053	Spectrophotometry	The art or process of comparing photometrically the relative intensities of the light in different parts of the spectrum.
D013237	Stereoisomerism	The phenomenon whereby compounds whose molecules have the same number and kind of atoms and the same atomic arrangement, but differ in their spatial relationships. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 5th ed)	Molecular Stereochemistry,Stereoisomers,Stereochemistry, Molecular,Stereoisomer