Issue 2, 2016

Length-independent transport rates in biomolecules by quantum mechanical unfurling

Abstract

Experiments on hole transfer in DNA between donor and acceptor moieties revealed transfer rates which are independent of the molecular bridge length (within experimental error). However, the physical origin of this intriguing observation is still unclear. The hopping model implies that the hole propagates in multiple steps along the bridge from one localized state to another, and therefore the longer the bridge, the slower the transfer. This can explain weak length-dependence but not a length-independent transfer rate. We show that the rigid molecular structure of a poly-A bridge supports single step transitions from a localized hole state to delocalized states, spread over the entire bridge. Since propagation to the bridge end is a single step process (termed quantum unfurling) the transfer rate becomes independent of the bridge length. This explanation is consistent with experimental results, and emphasizes the importance of structural order in charge transfer through bio-molecular systems.

Graphical abstract: Length-independent transport rates in biomolecules by quantum mechanical unfurling

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
16 Sep 2015
Accepted
19 Nov 2015
First published
20 Nov 2015
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2016,7, 1535-1542

Author version available

Length-independent transport rates in biomolecules by quantum mechanical unfurling

A. D. Levine, M. Iv and U. Peskin, Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 1535 DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03495G

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