Laser- and accelerator based studies of gas-phase biological chromophores

by Prof. Lars Andersen (Aarhus University)

Monday 8 Mar 2010, 10:15 → 11:00 Europe/Stockholm

FA 31

Chromophores are found in a variety of proteins and they serve important purposes for example in energy harvesting and vision. Typically, protein interactions change the absorption wavelength (color tuning) as well as the speed and quantum yields of the molecular response of the chromophore. To have a reference for such interactions, we study the absorption properties as well as the molecular response times of (protonated/deprotonated) chromophores in vacuum, i.e. in the completely isolated form, devoid of external perturbations (for example, charges, dipoles and hydrogen bonding). There is strong evidence that a good starting point for describing the conditions inside many proteins is indeed a vacuum with specific interactions that may shift the absorption wavelength. Mechanisms for color tuning as well as decay channels will be discussed in the talk.