Action Spectroscopy on Dense Samples of Photosynthetic Reaction Centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides WT Based on Nanosecond Laser-Flash (13)C Photo-CIDNP MAS NMR

Photochemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (photo-CIDNP MAS NMR) allows for the investigation of the electronic structure of the photochemical machinery of photosynthetic reaction centers (RCs) at atomic resolution. For such experiments, either continuous radiation from white xenon lamps or green laser pulses are applied to optically dense samples. In order to explore their optical properties, optically thick samples of isolated and quinone-removed RCs of the purple bacteria of Rhodobacter sphaeroides wild type are studied by nanosecond laser-flash (13)C photo-CIDNP MAS NMR using excitation wavelengths between 720 and 940 nm. Action spectra of both the transient nuclear polarization as well as the nuclear hyperpolarization, remaining in the electronic ground state at the end of the photocycle, are obtained. It is shown that the signal intensity is limited by the amount of accessible RCs and that the different mechanisms of the photo-CIDNP production rely on the same photophysical origin, which is the photocycle induced by one single photon.