Membrane-mimetic separations

Micelles and microemulsions have been explored as membrane mimetic systems since they possess charged microscopic interfaces which act as barriers to the charge recombination process (Fendler et al., 1980 Hurst et al., 1983). Namely, the influence of the location of the sensitizer on photoinduced electron transfer kinetics and on charge separation between photolytic products in reversed micelles has been studied (Pileni etal., 1985). 

In the artificial system Figure 4b, a polymerized surfactant vesicle is substituted for the thylakoid membrane. Energy is harvested by semiconductors, rather than by PSI and PSII. Electron transfer is rather simple. Water (rather than C02) is reduced in the reduction half cycle to hydrogen, at the expense of benzyl alcohol. In spite of these differences, the basic principles in plant and mimetic photosyntheses are similar. Components of both are compartmentalized. The sequence of events is identical in both systems energy harvesting, vectorial charge separation, and reduction. 

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