- Docente: Giovanni Venturoli
- Credits: 4
- SSD: BIO/04
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Photochemistry and molecular materials (cod. 8026)
Learning outcomes
The course will provide an interdisciplinary basis for the study of photobiological processes at the molecular level, with special emphasis on photosynthesis and photoreception.
Course contents
Electronic transitions. Pathways of molecular deactivation. The Franck-Condon principle. Quantum yield of photophysical and photochemical processes. Excitation energy transfer. The Förster equation. Electron transfer in proteins: the Marcus theory and quantum-mechanical models. Structure and function of light harvesting complexes in anoxygenic and oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. The bacterial reaction center: electron and proton transfer reactions. Structure and function of photosystem 1 and 2. Molecular mechanisms of photoinhibition. Photomorphogenesis. Function of phytochrome as a photosensory system. Bacteriorodopsin: structure and photocycle. Primary photoevents in vision. Photolyases: structure and function.
Readings/Bibliography
R.K. Clayton. Photosynthesis. Physical Mechanisms and Chemical Patterns.
Teaching methods
The course consists of lectures.
Assessment methods
Oral examination.
Office hours
See the website of Giovanni Venturoli