Rhodopsins, photochemical aspects

Photoreceptor Pigments. There have been several reviews which deal with structural and photochemical aspects of rhodopsins and model visual pigments. In addition to the papers reported above on spectroscopic studies of visual pigments, other publications report work on molecular aspects of rhodopsin... 

Y. Shichida, T. Yoshizawa, Photochemical Aspects of Rhodopsin, Chapter 125 in [1]. 

Spectroscopy and Physical Chemistry of Retinal and Visual Pigments. Several reviews and symposium proceedings discuss the spectroscopic, photochemical, or physicochemical properties of retinal and related compounds, and of natural and model visual pigments derived from them. " " In addition, many papers have been published dealing with specific aspects of the spectroscopy (u.v., n.m.r., resonance Raman) of retinals and rhodopsins" or with aspects of the photochemistry and physical chemistry of retinal derivatives which may be relevant to the functioning of rhodopsin and other visual pigments. The bacterial purple... 

Photochemical cis-trans isomerization is a major area of interest in modem photochemical research and is also studied as part of organic photochemistry. Photochemical cis-trans isomerization has a major role in many photobiological phenomena, such as vision (rhodopsin) [1], ATP synthesis (bacteriorhodopsin) [2], phototaxis (Chlamydomonas) [3], and other allied processes. It has practical application in industry [4-6], i.e., vitamin A and D processes. Furthermore, it is a likely candidate for many optoelectrical and optomechanical switching and storage devices [7]. In this chapter, mainly various aspects of cis-trans isomerization originating from the singlet excited state will be discussed. 

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