Water Molecules Gating a Photoinduced One Electron Two Protons Transfer in a Tyr/His model of Photosystem II
Résumé
In this report, we investigate on a biomimetic model of a H-bonded TyrZ/His190 pair covalently attached to a porphyrin sensitizer. Laser flash photolysis in presence of an external electron acceptor reveals the need of water molecules to unlock the light-induced oxidation of the phenol through an intramolecular pathway. Kinetics monitoring encompasses two fast phases with distinct spectral properties. The first phase is related to one-electron transfer from the phenol to the porphyrin radical cation coupled with a domino two-proton transfer leading to the ejection of a proton from the imidazole-phenol pair. The second phase concerns the convoy of the released proton to the porphyrin N4 coordinating cavity. Importantly, our study provides an unprecedented example of light induced electron transfer process in a TyrZ/His190 model of Photosystem II, evidencing the movement of both the phenol and imidazole protons along an isoenergetic pathway.