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. 1972 Jul;12(7):809–814. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(72)86124-1

Lifetime of the Excited State In Vivo

II. Bacteriochlorophyll in Photosynthetic Bacteria at Room Temperature

Govindjee, J H Hammond, H Merkelo
PMCID: PMC1484271  PMID: 4624833

Abstract

Lifetime of the excited state (τ) of bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) in photosynthetic bacteria, measured with a mode-locked argon laser (oscillating at 488 nm; mode locked at 56 MHz) as light source, ranged from 0.3 to 2.5 nsec. These τ values are reported with a precision of ±0.1 nsec. The value of τ at high exciting light intensity (I) was two to three times that at low intensity. For young cultures of green bacterium Chloropseudomonas ethylicum, τ ranged from 0.5 (low I) to 1.0 nsec (high I); for those of the purple bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum, from 0.4 (low I) to 1.0 nsec (high I); and for those of the BChl b-containing Rhodopseudomonas viridis, from 1.0 (low I) to 2.5 nsec (high I). These data provide information regarding the efficiencies of the photochemical process in these bacteria. Quantum yield (ø) of BChl fluorescence, calculated from ø = τ/τ0 (where τ0 is the intrinsic lifetime of fluorescence), ranges from 2-6% at low intensities to 6-14% at high intensities.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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