The LH2 complex from
Rhodopsudomonas (Rps.) palustris is unique in the heterogeneous carotenoid compositions. The dynamics of triplet excited state Carotenoids (
3Car* has been investigated by means of sub-microsecond time-resolved absorption spectroscopy both at physiological temperature
(295 K) and at cryogenic temperature (77K). Broad and asymmetric
T
n
←T
1 transient absorption was observed at room temperature following the photo-excitation of Car at 532 nm, which suggests the
contribution from various carotenoid compositions having different numbers of conjugated C=C double bonds (N
c=c). The triplet absorption bands of different carotenoids, which superimposed at room temperature, could be clearly distinguished
upon decreasing the temperature down to 77 K. At room temperature the shorter-wavelength side of the main T
n04T
1 absorption band decayed rapidly to reach a spectral equilibration with a characteristic time constant of ∽1 μs, the same
spectral dynamics, however, was not observed at 77 K. The aforementioned spectral dynamics can be explained in terms of the
triplet-excitation transfer among heterogeneous carotenoid compositions. Global spectral analysis was applied to the time-resolved
spectra at room temperature, which revealed two spectral components peaked at 545 and 565 nm, and assignable to the T
n04 T
1 absorption of Cars with Nc=c=11 and Nc=c=13, respectively. Surprisingly, the decay time constant of a shorter-conjugated
Car, i.e. 0.72 ώs (aerobic) and 1.36 ώs (anaerobic), is smaller than that of a longer-conjugated Car, i.e. 2.12 us (aerobic)
and 3.75 ώs (anaerobic), which is contradictory to the general rule of carotenoids and relative polyenes. The results are
explained in terms of triplet-excitation transfer among different types of Cars. It is postulated that two Cars with different
conjugation lengths coexist in an α, β-subunit in the LH2 complex.
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