A semisynthetic peptide-metalloporphyrin responsive matrix for artificial photosynthesis

Sun, Z. (2019)

Doctoral Thesis

This thesis is concerned with the constitution of chiral responsive matrix assemblies that may undergo light-driven conformational changes and self-select vibrations to develop vibronic states for driving semi-classical coherent transfer with nearly 100% yield in a lossless NCAP process. In this work, a truncated CsmA derived from the CsmA protein from the baseplate of the Chlorobaculum tepidum has been used to engineer a chiral matrix around a zinc protoporphyrin IX (ZnPP) chromophore (Chapter 2). After the study of the specific structure of tCsmA-ZnPP complex, the mechanism of self-assembly was resolved (Chapter 3 and Chapter 4). Expression and purification of tCsmA in E.coli was explored to pave the way for other methods, such as NMR (Chapter 5).

• Chiral responsive matrix
• Truncated CsmA
• Zinc protoporphyrin IX
• Cryo-EM
• Self-assembly
• Light harvesting antenna

• All authors: Sun, Z.
• Supervisor: Groot, H.J.M. de
• Committee: Grip, W.J. de; Kros, A.; Jakobi, A.; Alia, A.; Vossegaard, T.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Institute of Chemistry (LIC), Faculty of Science, Leiden University
• Date: 2019-11-20
• ISBN (print): 9789492597328