Evidence for the purely electronic character of primary electron transfer in purple bacteria Rh. Sphaeroides

A quantum-chemical calculation of the excited electronic states of a Rh. Sphaeroides reaction centre was performed. We discovered a new excited electronic state which can participate in electron transfer (ET). The energy gradient calculations showed that photoexcitation activates only high-frequency vibrational modes. This contradicts the widely accepted picture of ET resulting from vibrational wave packet motion. An alternative model is suggested where ET has a purely dissipative character and occurs only due to pigment--protein interaction. With this model, we demonstrate that oscillations in the femtosecond spectra can be caused by the new electronic state and non-Markovian character of dissipative dynamics.