Simulating the dynamics and orientations of spin-labeled side chains in a protein-DNA complex.

Site-directed spin labeling, wherein a nitroxide side chain is introduced into a protein at a selected mutant site, is increasingly employed to investigate biological systems by electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. An understanding of the packing and dynamics of the spin label is needed to extract the biologically relevant information about the macromolecule from ESR measurements. In this work, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed on the spin-labeled restriction endonuclease, EcoRI in complex with DNA.

Photophysical behavior of open-shell, first-row transition metal meso-tetraphenyltetrabenzoporphyrins: insights from experimental and theoretical studies.

The ground and excited state properties of two metallo-tetraphenyltetrabenzoporphyrins (MTPTBP) have been investigated by a combination of DFT/TDDFT and transient absorption spectrometry to draw a complete picture of the excited state deactivation. The Cu(II) and Co(II) complexes were chosen to investigate the impact of the half-filled d orbitals on the photophysical properties of the tetrapyrrole macrocycle. The first observed transient in CuTPTBP was assigned to the triplet state that equilibrated with a ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) state.