15N electron nuclear double resonance of the primary donor cation radical P+.865 in reaction centers of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides: additional evidence for the dimer model.

Four 15N hyperfine coupling constants, including signs, have been measured by electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) and electron nuclear nuclear triple resonance (TRIPLE) for the bacteriochlorophyll a radical cation, BChla+., in vitro and for the light-induced primary donor radical cation, P+.865, in reaction centers of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides R-26. A comparison of the data shows that the hyperfine coupling constants have the same sign in both radicals and are, on the average, smaller by a factor of 2 in P+.865. These results provide additional evidence that P+.865 is a bacteriochlorophyll dimer and are in contradiction with the monomer structure of P+.865 recently proposed by O'Malley and Babcock. The reduction factors of the individual 15N couplings, together with the evidence from proton ENDOR data and molecular orbital calculations, indicate a dimer structure in which only two rings (either I and I or III and III) of the bacteriochlorophyll macrocycles overlap.