Mimicking Nature - A Step Towards Artificial Photosynthesis

Built a synthetic light harvesting antenna which mimics those found in photosynthetic bacteria

Important step in designing bioinspired solar devices that efficiently capture and transfer light energy

• The chlorosome, the extremely efficient light harvesting antenna in green photosynthetic bacteria, captures energy from sunlight and funnels it to reaction centers to create fuel for the bacteria
• Chlorosomes consist of thousands of pigment molecules called chlorins that, unlike pigments in the antennas of plants and algae, self-assemble into a highly-organized structure
• Chlorin pigments were synthesized in the laboratory and demonstrated to self assemble to form an antenna structure; experiments are now testing activity

Top: Schematic of chlorosome antenna with baseplate and reaction center complex. Bottom: On the left, the specific chlorin pigment found in chlorosomes, bacteriochlorophyll c; on the right, a schematic of the possible structure of bacteriochlorophyll c molecules in the chlorosome.

Reference: O. Mass, D. R. Pandithavidana, M. Ptaszek, K. Santiago, J. W. Springer, J. Jiao, Q. Tang, C. Kiramaier, D. F. Bocian, D. Holton, J. S. Lindsey, De novo synthesis and properties of analogues of the self-assembling chlorosomal bacteriochlorophylls, New Journal of Chemistry, 35, 2671 (2011) [DOI: 10.1039/c1nj20611g].

Support: Work was performed at North Carolina State University, University of Washington St. Louis, and UC Riverside and supported by the Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center, an EFRC led by Robert Blankenship at Washington University in St. Louis.

More Information: This work was featured in the article, A Step Toward Artificial Photosynthesis, on the Office of Science's Stories of Discovery and Innovation on January 1, 2012.