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Sequential Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer Mediates Excited-State Deactivation of a Eumelanin Building Block

Nogueira, Juan J. ; Corani, Alice LU ; El Nahhas, Amal LU ; Pezzella, Alessandro ; D’Ischia, Marco ; González, Leticia and Sundström, Villy LU (2017) In The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 8(5). p.1004-1008
Abstract

Skin photoprotection is commonly believed to rely on the photochemistry of 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI)- and 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid (DHICA)-based eumelanin building blocks. Attempts to elucidate the underlying excited-state relaxation mechanisms have been partly unsuccessful due to the marked instability to oxidation. We report a study of the excited-state deactivation of DHI using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence accompanied by high-level quantum-chemistry calculations including solvent effects. Spectroscopic data show that deactivation of the lowest excited state of DHI in aqueous buffer proceeds on the 100 ps time scale and is 20 times faster than in methanol. Quantum-chemical calculations reveal that the... (More)

Skin photoprotection is commonly believed to rely on the photochemistry of 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI)- and 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid (DHICA)-based eumelanin building blocks. Attempts to elucidate the underlying excited-state relaxation mechanisms have been partly unsuccessful due to the marked instability to oxidation. We report a study of the excited-state deactivation of DHI using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence accompanied by high-level quantum-chemistry calculations including solvent effects. Spectroscopic data show that deactivation of the lowest excited state of DHI in aqueous buffer proceeds on the 100 ps time scale and is 20 times faster than in methanol. Quantum-chemical calculations reveal that the excited-state decay mechanism is a sequential proton-coupled electron transfer, which involves the initial formation of a solvated electron from DHI, followed by the transfer of a proton to the solvent. This unexpected finding would prompt a revision of current notions about eumelanin photophysics and photobiology.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
volume
8
issue
5
pages
5 pages
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85014305459
  • pmid:28195487
  • wos:000395619100018
ISSN
1948-7185
DOI
10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b03012
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
38d90dc7-b004-43e1-a172-7940de63defc
date added to LUP
2017-03-14 13:40:35
date last changed
2024-06-10 15:26:52
@article{38d90dc7-b004-43e1-a172-7940de63defc,
  abstract     = {{<p>Skin photoprotection is commonly believed to rely on the photochemistry of 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI)- and 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid (DHICA)-based eumelanin building blocks. Attempts to elucidate the underlying excited-state relaxation mechanisms have been partly unsuccessful due to the marked instability to oxidation. We report a study of the excited-state deactivation of DHI using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence accompanied by high-level quantum-chemistry calculations including solvent effects. Spectroscopic data show that deactivation of the lowest excited state of DHI in aqueous buffer proceeds on the 100 ps time scale and is 20 times faster than in methanol. Quantum-chemical calculations reveal that the excited-state decay mechanism is a sequential proton-coupled electron transfer, which involves the initial formation of a solvated electron from DHI, followed by the transfer of a proton to the solvent. This unexpected finding would prompt a revision of current notions about eumelanin photophysics and photobiology.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nogueira, Juan J. and Corani, Alice and El Nahhas, Amal and Pezzella, Alessandro and D’Ischia, Marco and González, Leticia and Sundström, Villy}},
  issn         = {{1948-7185}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{1004--1008}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters}},
  title        = {{Sequential Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer Mediates Excited-State Deactivation of a Eumelanin Building Block}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b03012}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b03012}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}