Protochlorophyllide excited-state dynamics in organic solvents studied by time-resolved visible and mid-infrared spectroscopy

Protochlorophyllide (PChlide) is a precursor in the biosynthesis of chlorophyll. Complexed with NADPH to the enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR), it is reduced to chlorophyllide, a process that occurs via a set of spectroscopically distinct intermediate states and is initiated from the excited state of PChlide. To obtain a better understanding of these catalytic events, we characterized the excited state dynamics of PChlide in the solvents tetrahydrofuran (THF), methanol, and Tris/Triton buffer using ultrafast transient absorption in the visible and mid-infrared spectral regions and time-resolved fluorescence emission experiments. For comparison, we present time-resolved transient absorption measurements of chlorophyll a in THF. From the combined analysis of these experiments, we derive that during the 2-3 ns excited state lifetime an extensive multiphasic quenching of the emission occurs due to solvation of the excited state, which is in agreement with the previously proposed internal charge transfer (ICT) character of the S1 state (Zhao, G. J.; Han, K. L. Biophys. J. 2008, 94, 38). The solvation process in methanol occurs in conjunction with a strengthening of a hydrogen bond to the Pchlide keto carbonyl group. We demonstrate that the internal conversion from the S2 to S1 excited states is remarkably slow and stretches out on to the 700 fs time scale, causing a rise of blue-shifted signals in the transient absorption and a gain of emission in the time-resolved fluorescence. A triplet state is populated on the nanosecond time scale with a maximal yield of ∼23%. The consequences of these observations for the catalytic pathway and the role of the triplet and ICT state in activation of the enzyme are discussed. © 2010 American Chemical Society.