New insights into the ultrafast photophysics of oxidized and reduced FAD in solution

J Phys Chem A. 2011 Apr 21;115(15):3251-62. doi: 10.1021/jp110741y. Epub 2011 Mar 25.

Abstract

The ultrafast photophysics of oxidized and reduced flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) in aqueous solution was studied by broadband UV-vis femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. We observed that oxidized FAD (FAD(ox)) in solution readily aggregates at submillimolar concentration. Upon excitation of FAD(ox), three excited-state lifetimes were found and assigned to three different species: the closed (stacked) conformation of the monomer (∼5.4 ps), the open (extended) conformation of the monomer (∼2.8 ns), and the dimer (∼27 ps). In the case of the stacked conformation of the monomer, we show that intramolecular electron transfer from the adenine to the isoalloxazine ring occurs with a time constant of 5.4 ps and is followed by charge recombination on a faster time scale, namely, 390 fs. We additionally demonstrate that deprotonated reduced flavin (FADH(-)) undergoes biphotonic ionization under high excitation fluence and dissociates into a hydrated electron and the neutral semiquinone radical FADH(•).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Flavin-Adenine Dinucleotide / chemical synthesis
  • Flavin-Adenine Dinucleotide / chemistry*
  • Molecular Structure
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Photochemical Processes
  • Solutions

Substances

  • Solutions
  • Flavin-Adenine Dinucleotide