Vibrational mechanism for primary charge separation in the reaction center of Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Quantum chemical methods are used to determine geometry, reorganization energy, and vibrational and electronic spectra of pigment molecules in bacterial photosynthetic reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. It was found that some low-energy vibrations, particularly those of ring side group affects the charge-transfer excited state and hence very likely are involved in the charge-separation process.