Ultrafast laser spectroscopy uncovers mechanisms of light energy conversion in photosynthesis and sustainable energy materials

D Zigmantas, T Polívka, P Persson… - Chemical Physics …, 2022 - pubs.aip.org
The invention of the laser in 1960 gave us the ruby laser, which generally produced chaotic
pulses of light. Six years later, in 1966, a concept called passive mode-locking applied to …

Challenges facing an understanding of the nature of low-energy excited states in photosynthesis

JR Reimers, M Biczysko, D Bruce, DF Coker… - … et Biophysica Acta (BBA …, 2016 - Elsevier
While the majority of the photochemical states and pathways related to the biological
capture of solar energy are now well understood and provide paradigms for artificial device …

A mitochondrion‐localized two‐photon photosensitizer generating carbon radicals against hypoxic tumors

S Kuang, L Sun, X Zhang, X Liao… - Angewandte Chemie …, 2020 - Wiley Online Library
The efficacy of photodynamic therapy is typically reliant on the local concentration and
diffusion of oxygen. Due to the hypoxic microenvironment found in solid tumors, oxygen …

The nature of carotenoid S* state and its role in the nonphotochemical quenching of plants

D Accomasso, G Londi, L Cupellini… - Nature …, 2024 - nature.com
In plants, light-harvesting complexes serve as antennas to collect and transfer the absorbed
energy to reaction centers, but also regulate energy transport by dissipating the excitation …

Dark excited states of carotenoids: consensus and controversy

T Polívka, V Sundström - Chemical Physics Letters, 2009 - Elsevier
Excited-state dynamics of carotenoids has attracted considerable recent interest, but it has
also engendered a number of controversial hypotheses. This review summarizes the …

Capturing the quenching mechanism of light-harvesting complexes of plants by zooming in on the ensemble

V Mascoli, N Liguori, P Xu, LM Roy, IHM van Stokkum… - Chem, 2019 - cell.com
The light-harvesting complexes (LHCs) of plants can regulate the energy flux to the reaction
centers in response to fluctuating light by virtue of their vast conformational landscape. They …

Carotenoid Distribution in Living Cells of Haematococcus pluvialis (Chlorophyceae)

AM Collins, HDT Jones, D Han, Q Hu, TE Beechem… - PloS one, 2011 - journals.plos.org
Haematococcus pluvialis is a freshwater unicellular green microalga belonging to the class
Chlorophyceae and is of commercial interest for its ability to accumulate massive amounts of …

Origin of energy dissipation in the oligomeric fucoxanthin-chlorophyll a/c binding proteins

M Zheng, C Zhou, W Wang, T Kuang… - The Journal of …, 2023 - ACS Publications
Fucoxanthin-chlorophyll proteins (FCPs) are a family of photosynthetic light-harvesting
complex (LHC) proteins found in diatoms. They efficiently capture photons and regulate their …

Different carotenoid conformations have distinct functions in light-harvesting regulation in plants

N Liguori, P Xu, IHM Van Stokkum, B Van Oort… - Nature …, 2017 - nature.com
To avoid photodamage plants regulate the amount of excitation energy in the membrane at
the level of the light-harvesting complexes (LHCs). It has been proposed that the energy …

Ultrafast dynamics and excited state spectra of open-chain carotenoids at room and low temperatures

D Niedzwiedzki, JF Koscielecki, H Cong… - The Journal of …, 2007 - ACS Publications
Many of the spectroscopic features and photophysical properties of carotenoids are
explained using a three-state model in which the strong visible absorption of the molecules …