Hackaday Article

The photoisomerization dynamics of azo-escitalopram, a synthetic photoswitchable inhibitor of the human serotonin transporter, is investigated in both gas-phase and water. We use the trajectory surfac...

Rhodopsins constitute a broad class of retinal-binding photoreceptors. Microbial rhodopsins are canonically activated through an all-trans to 13-cis photoisomerization, whereas animal rhodopsins are m...

Probing photochemistry with NMR

In this study, we present the synthesis and analysis of a novel, air-stable, and solvent-resistant phosphaalkene switch. Using this symmetric switch, we have demonstrated degenerate photoisomerizatio...

A methine-bridged trithiophene with a thienoquinoid core undergoes photoisomerization of both C═C bonds, affording three geometrical isomers in a ratio controlled by the irradiation wavelength. Despi....

Rhodopsins, an important group of photoreceptor proteins, possess a retinal chromophore. It has long been believed that the photoisomerization of the chromophore is the initial event triggering its photocycle. However, we recently reported that protein structural changes around the chromophore precede photoisomerization in bacteriorhodopsin (BR). In this study, we performed deep-ultraviolet femtosecond stimulated Raman measurements for H+-pump rhodopsin (RxR) and photosensor rhodopsin (NpSRII) to investigate whether these ultrafast protein dynamics are common among rhodopsins. We observed that the protein structural changes occur within 0.2 ps after photoexcitation and precede the chromophore photoisomerization, similar to the case for BR. This strongly indicates that the protein structural change precedes the photoisomerization in rhodopsins, regardless of the difference in their origins and functions. Furthermore, we found that only limited protein changes occur on the time scale of the photoisomerization, suggesting that the protein environment is already optimized for the structural change of the chromophore. These observations raise the possibility that the ultrafast protein change arranges the environment around the chromophore to facilitate the photoisomerization.

In this study, we present the synthesis and analysis of a novel, air-stable, and solvent-resistant phosphaalkene switch. Using this symmetric switch, we have demonstrated degenerate photoisomerizatio...

The ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of δ-lactones derived from the telomerization of CO2 and butadiene offers a platform to valorize cheap and abundant waste products into commercially competitive p...

The (fulvalene)Ru2(CO)4 complex is the only known metal-based photoswitch capable of both harvesting solar energy upon irradiation and releasing it on demand, acting as a molecular solar–thermal fuel....

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Vision begins with the photoisomerization of the chromophore 11-cis-retinal (11cR) to its all-trans form in visual rhodopsins. To regenerate visual rh…