Protonated polyene Schiff base

Using two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy, the spatial location of various carboxylate anions relative to the polyene chain of the protonated Schiff base of all-fraws-retinal was determined. The observed intermolecular NOE cross-peaks between a proton on the counterion and a proton near the nitrogen atom indicate the existence of ion-pair formation between the protonated retinal Schiff base and various counterions in chloroform. The results suggest that the most likely site of the carboxylate group of the counterion is in the immediate vicinity of the positively charged nitrogen atom of the retinal Schiff base. 

For 10-fold 13C labelled retinal, it has been shown that the differences between chemical shifts for polyene chain carbons of the chromophore in its native environment and detergent-solubilised system were small67 Analysis of the environment of the Schiff base has supported the model of stabilisation based on the protonation by a complex counterion. Three factors were responsible for the excessive positive charge in polyene (i) electronegative nitrogen, (ii) protonation and (iii) counterion strength. 

Dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP) enhanced 15N CP MAS NMR has been exploited by Mark-Jurkauskas et al.79 in the studies of intermediates of the bacteriorhodopsin photocycle. The data for L intermediate were similar to those found for 13-ds,15-anti retylidene chloride, while those for K intermediate were similar to those of acid blue bacteriorhodopsin in which the Schiff base counterion was neutralised (Table 3). The 15N chemical shifts observed have shown that for bacteriorhodopsin, the Schiff base in K intermediate state loses contact with its counterion and establishes a new one in L intermediate state. The proton energy stored at the beginning in the electrostatic modes has been transformed to torsional modes. The transfer of energy is facilitated by the reduction of bond order alternation in the polyene chain when the counterion interaction is initially broken and is driven by the attraction of the Schiff base to a new counterion. 3D CP MAS experiments of NCOCX, NCACX, CONCA and CAN(CO)CA types have been used in studies of proteorhodopsin.71... 

X = 0, CH2, CHCOOH, C(COOH)2, NH, NCH3 N(CH2CH=CH2), N(CHs)2 Cl Bobrowski and Das published a series of papers on the transients in the pulse radiolysis of retinyl polyenes31-37, due to their importance in a variety of biomolecular processes. They studied32 the kinetics and mechanisms of protonation reaction. The protons were released by pulse radiolysis, on a nanosecond time scale, of 2-propanol air-saturated solutions containing, in addition to the retinyl polyenes, also 0.5 M acetone and 0.2 M CCI4. Within less than 300 ns, the electron beam pulse results in formation of HC1. The protonated products of retinyl polyenes were found to absorb optically with Xmax at the range of 475-585 nm and were measured by this absorption. They found that the protonation rate constants of polyene s Schiff bases depend on the polyene chain... 

Photochemistry of protonated Schiff bases is also based on conical intersections however, the excited state is ionic and corresponds to an intramolecular charge transfer state thus the theoretical aspects of the problem are distinct from polyenes. 

M. Garavelli, F. Bernardi, P. Celani, M. A. Robb, and M. Olivucci,/. Pkotochem. Photobiol. A Chemistry, 114,109 (1998). Minimum Energy Paths in the Excited and Ground States of Short Protonated Schiff Bases and of the Analogous Polyenes. 

Fig. 20. Model for the primary event in vision. Isomerization of the 11.12 bond leads to charge separation at Ihe Schiff base site. This process, as shown, can possibly be followed by proton transfer, the latter resulting from the charge separation. In rhodopsin, the second negative charge responsible for wavelength regulation is shown close to the 11,12 bond of the polyene chain. This model assumes that hypsorhodopsin is the unprotonated form of the Schiff base, and that it is formed possibly by proton transfer from the Schiff base nitrogen in some pigments. From Honig ct al. [207].

The process entails shifting of double bonds along the polyene chain, with the formation of a "retro-retinal" structure. Peters et al. (301) interpreted their observations by identifying PBAT with an excited state of rhodopsin, where single proton transfer toward the Schiff base nitrogen leads to the formation of bathorhodopsin. This approach has been supported by the theoretical interpretation of the spectrum of rhodopsin in terms of a nonprotonated Schiff base (214-216). A mechanism involving deprotonation of the Schiff base has also been suggested (310). All these models do not require cis-trans isomerization as a primary event in the chromo-phore. 

Most current interest in u.v. spectra is concerned with retinal and its cis-trans isomers. Studies at 77 K include theoretical calculations, fluorescence, and the effect of protonation on the corresponding Schiff base. The singlet-triplet absorption spectrum of all-trans-retinol has been measured. Calculations on the absorption-emission spectra of rhodopsin suggest that there is little dependence on the angular twist in the polyene chain. Pulse radiolysis has made it... 

Fig. 10. The conical intersection of cyanine dyes is characterized by two electronic states that differ in the position of a positive charge. The intersection mediates a charge-transfer process in the X2 direction of the branching plane dominated by stretching deformations and Z/E isomerization in the Xi direction. The same situation occurs in polyenal protonated Schiff bases (see Scheme 1).

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