Study of chlorophyll photoresistance in different matrices

The thesis project focus on the study of the photo-physical properties of Chlorophyll in different environments: Chlorophyll embedded in WSCP protein (Water-Soluble Chlorophyll Protein), known for its ability to protect the pigment from photobleaching, and adsorbed in mesoporous silica matrices. The effect of the adsorption of chlorophyll in the silica matrices is evaluated both through TR-EPR technique, comparing spectra of the photoinduced triplet states of Chlorophyll in matrices with those of chlorophyll in organic solvent, and through fluorescence quenching measurements to evaluate the effect of the matrix toward photoprotection of the pigments. Moreover WSCP is adsorbed in the matrix to evaluate whether the matrix change the properties of Chlorophyll bonded to the protein. An in silico study is also carried out, focused on mapping the main tunnels of WSCP for oxygen access through specific analysis of the molecular dynamics, already obtained in previous studies, of both the wild type and a mutant (L91P), to correlate the occurrence of these tunnels with the difference in photobleaching resistance shown by the two species.