Effect of variation of retinal polyene side-chain length on formation and function of bacteriorhodopsin analogue pigments.

The effect of the length of the retinal polyene side chain on bacterioopsin pigment formation and function has been investigated with two series of synthetic retinal analogues. Cyclohexyl derivatives with polyene chains one carbon longer and one or more carbons shorter than retinal and linear polyenes with no ring have been synthesized and characterized. Compounds of six carbons or less in the polyene chain form pigments very poorly or not at all with bacterioopsin. Compounds containing at least seven carbons in the chain are found to form reasonably stable bacterioopsin pigments that show a small shift in absorbance on irradiation. However, photocycling and proton photorelease are not detected. The analogue with nine carbons in the polyene chain (one less than retinal) forms a stable pigment with an M-type intermediate but demonstrates reduced amounts of photocycling and light-activated proton release. The analogue with a polyene chain identical with that of retinal, but containing no ring, forms a pigment that shows both an efficient light-activated proton photocycle and release. The pigment containing the chromophore with the polyene chain one carbon longer than retinal is likewise fully active. We thus conclude that the length of the polyene chain must be at least 9 carbons for the formation of a stable pigment that photocycles and must be 10 carbons for both the photocycle and light-activated proton release to have a high quantum efficiency.