Building Photosynthesis by Artificial Molecules

The purpose of this project is to build nanomolecular machinery for photosynthesis by use of artificial molecules. The world’s most successful molecular machinery for photosynthesis is that of green plants—the two photosystems and related protein complexes. These are composed almost exclusively from organic molecules, plus a small amount of metal elements playing important roles. Inspired by these natural systems, we are trying to build up multimolecular systems that are capable of light-to-chemical energy conversion. At present, our interest is mainly focused on constructing necessary molecular parts and examining their redox and photochemical behavior.