Stimulus-responsive light-harvesting complexes based on the pillararene-induced co-assembly of β-carotene and chlorophyll

Yan Sun, Fang Guo, Tongfei Zuo, Jingjing Hua and Guowang Diao ()
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Yan Sun: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University
Fang Guo: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University
Tongfei Zuo: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University
Jingjing Hua: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University
Guowang Diao: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract The locations and arrangements of carotenoids at the subcellular level are responsible for their designated functions, which reinforces the necessity of developing methods for constructing carotenoid-based suprastructures beyond the molecular level. Because carotenoids lack the binding sites necessary for controlled interactions, functional structures based on carotenoids are not easily obtained. Here, we show that carotene-based suprastructures were formed via the induction of pillararene through a phase-transfer-mediated host–guest interaction. More importantly, similar to the main component in natural photosynthesis, complexes could be synthesized after chlorophyll was introduced into the carotene-based suprastructure assembly process. Remarkably, compared with molecular carotene or chlorophyll, this synthesized suprastructure exhibits some photocatalytic activity when exposed to light, which can be exploited for photocatalytic reaction studies of energy capture and solar conversion in living organisms.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12042

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