Excitation Energy Trapping and Dissipation by Ni-Substituted Bacteriochlorophyll <i>a</i> in Reconstituted LH1 Complexes from Rhodospirillum rubrum

Bacteriochlorophyll <i>a</i> with Ni²⁺ replacing the central Mg²⁺ ion was used as an ultrafast excitation energy dissipation center in reconstituted bacterial LH1 complexes. B870, a carotenoid-less LH1 complex, and B880, an LH1 complex containing spheroidene, were obtained via reconstitution from the subunits isolated from chromatophores of Rhodospirillum rubrum. Ni-substituted bacteriochlorophyll <i>a</i> added to the reconstitution mixture partially substituted the native pigment in both forms of LH1. The excited-state dynamics of the reconstituted LH1 complexes were probed by femtosecond pump–probe transient absorption spectroscopy in the visible and near-infrared spectral region. Spheroidene-binding B880 containing no excitation dissipation centers displayed complex dynamics in the time range of 0.1–10 ps, reflecting internal conversion and intersystem crossing in the carotenoid, exciton relaxation in BChl complement, and energy transfer from carotenoid to the latter. In B870, some aggregation-induced excitation energy quenching was present. The binding of Ni-BChl <i>a</i> to both B870 and B880 resulted in strong quenching of the excited states with main deexcitation lifetime of ca. 2 ps. The LH1 excited-state lifetime could be modeled with an intrinsic decay time constant in Ni-substituted bacteriochlorophyll <i>a</i> of 160 fs. The presence of carotenoid in LH1 did not influence the kinetics of energy trapping by Ni-BChl unless the carotenoid was directly excited, in which case the kinetics was limited by a slower carotenoid S₁ to bacteriochlorophyll energy transfer