| Abstract: | Abstract— The incorporation of relatively small amounts (≤ 20 mol%) of a negatively charged surfactant into otherwise electrically neutral phosphatidylcholine vesicles containing chlorophyll in the presence of benzoquinone has been shown to produce large effects on radical formation and decay as measured by laser flash photolysis. When salt ions are present in the aqueous phase, increasing the level of negative surfactant leads to a small increase in radical yield, followed by a larger decrease in radical yield. When the salt concentration is low, increasing the negative surfactant concentration leads to a suppression of the fast radical recombination process, an increase in slow radical decay and, at the highest surfactant concentration, an approximately 35% increase in total radical yield. An analysis of these effects is given in terms of the influence of a negative electrostatic field on radical pair stabilization and recombination, radical pair separation and expulsion of the acceptor radical anion from the vesicle. The incorporation of relatively small amounts (≤ 20 mol%) of a positively charged surfactant into egg phosphatidylcholine (EPC) vesicles containing chlorophyll and benzoquinone also produces large effects on radical formation and decay. When the electrolyte concentration in the suspending aqueous medium is high, radical yields are decreased as the surfactant concentration is increased, without any appreciable effect on decay kinetics. When deionized water is used, the slow recombination component of the decay is specifically suppressed by the presence of the positive surfactant, whereas the fast decay component decreased and then increased in amount as the surfactant concentration is increased. In all cases, however, the total radical yield is less than in pure EPC vesicles. These results can be understood in terms of the influence of a positive electrostatic field on radical pair separation and acceptor radical anion mobility. When equimolar amounts of both positively and negatively charged surfactants are incorporated into EPC vesicles, the radical yields and decay kinetics are relatively unaffected, but a large effect is observed on the radical difference spectrum. This may be a consequence of clustering of oppositely charged molecules within the bilayer surface. |
