Mimicking a Light-Harvesting Complex to Accelerate Photooxidation in Asymmetric Lipid Membrane Nanoreactors

Julian Bösking; Roland E P Nau; Nico Alleva; Richard Jacobi; Tobias Meyer-Zedler; Hannah Voßhenrich; Francesca Mazotta; Ingo Lieberwirth; David Ng; Michael Schmitt; Jürgen Popp; Leticia González; Tanja Weil; Andrea Pannwitz

doi:10.1002/anie.1785862

Mimicking a Light-Harvesting Complex to Accelerate Photooxidation in Asymmetric Lipid Membrane Nanoreactors

Julian Bösking
, Roland E P Nau
, Nico Alleva
, Richard Jacobi
, Tobias Meyer-Zedler
, Hannah Voßhenrich
, Francesca Mazotta
, Ingo Lieberwirth
, David Ng
, Michael Schmitt
, Jürgen Popp
, Leticia González (Corresponding author)
, Tanja Weil (Corresponding author)
, Andrea Pannwitz (Corresponding author)

Department of Theoretical Chemistry

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

In nature, photosynthesis is driven by solar light and a large proportion of the visible spectrum is absorbed by the light harvesting complexes (LHCs), which then transfer the energy to the reaction center. Inspired by nature, we implemented a light harvesting energy transfer cascade within biomimetic lipid bilayers of liposomes built with DPPC (1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine), using membrane-anchored fluorescein, 2-(3,6-dihydroxy-9H-xanthen-9-yl)-5-dodecanamidobenzoic acid (FlC12) as primary absorber and membrane anchored eosin Y, hexadecyl 2-(2,4,5,7-tetrabromo-3,6-dihydroxy-9H-xanthen-9-yl)benzoate (EYC16), as energy acceptor to sensitize oxygen and generate the reactive oxygen species 1O2. Finally, the model substrate nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) is oxidized by 1O2 within the compartmentalizing liposome nanoreactors. It was observed that our metal-free LHC system has only a minor effect on the photooxidation rate of NADH when the nanoreactor membrane is functionalized symmetrically. By contrast, asymmetric membrane functionalization of the liposome nanoreactor membranes leads to acceleration by 16% to 27% when using multi-colored light emitting diodes (LED) or simulated solar light, respectively.

Original language	English
Article number	e1785862
Journal	Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)
Volume	65
Issue number	25
Early online date	2 May 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.1785862
Publication status	Published - 15 Jun 2026

Funding

This research was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, SFB/TRR234 “CataLight” project number 364549901, subprojects B8, C2 and C3; SFB 1375 “NOA” project number 398816777, subprojects C1 and C7; Major Research Instrumentation for NMR devices project numbers 445471845 and 445471097) and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, grant DOI 10.55776/I6116). The Austrian Scientific Cluster is acknowledged for the generous allocation of computational resources. R.J. thanks the Austrian Academy of Science (ÖAW) for support through a DOC scholarship. A. P. acknowledges the Vector Stiftung (project number P2019‐0110) and the CZS‐Stiftung for financial support. The authors want to acknowledge the support of Jana Koenigsdorff during her project work. The authors want to thank our CataLight partners for discussing the results and also thank Sven Rau for access to the spectrometers. Some figures were created with BioRender.com as indicated in the figure captions.

Funders	Funder number
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinsachft (DFG)	398816777
Vector Stiftung	P2019-0110
Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF)	10.55776

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

104022 Theoretical chemistry
104016 Photochemistry

Keywords

compartmentalization
liposomes
energy transfer
photosensitization, singlet oxygen

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Cite this

Bösking, J., Nau, R. E. P., Alleva, N., Jacobi, R., Meyer-Zedler, T., Voßhenrich, H., Mazotta, F., Lieberwirth, I., Ng, D., Schmitt, M., Popp, J., González, L., Weil, T., & Pannwitz, A. (2026). Mimicking a Light-Harvesting Complex to Accelerate Photooxidation in Asymmetric Lipid Membrane Nanoreactors. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), 65(25), Article e1785862. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.1785862

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abstract = "In nature, photosynthesis is driven by solar light and a large proportion of the visible spectrum is absorbed by the light harvesting complexes (LHCs), which then transfer the energy to the reaction center. Inspired by nature, we implemented a light harvesting energy transfer cascade within biomimetic lipid bilayers of liposomes built with DPPC (1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine), using membrane-anchored fluorescein, 2-(3,6-dihydroxy-9H-xanthen-9-yl)-5-dodecanamidobenzoic acid (FlC12) as primary absorber and membrane anchored eosin Y, hexadecyl 2-(2,4,5,7-tetrabromo-3,6-dihydroxy-9H-xanthen-9-yl)benzoate (EYC16), as energy acceptor to sensitize oxygen and generate the reactive oxygen species 1O2. Finally, the model substrate nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) is oxidized by 1O2 within the compartmentalizing liposome nanoreactors. It was observed that our metal-free LHC system has only a minor effect on the photooxidation rate of NADH when the nanoreactor membrane is functionalized symmetrically. By contrast, asymmetric membrane functionalization of the liposome nanoreactor membranes leads to acceleration by 16\% to 27\% when using multi-colored light emitting diodes (LED) or simulated solar light, respectively.",

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Bösking, J, Nau, REP, Alleva, N, Jacobi, R, Meyer-Zedler, T, Voßhenrich, H, Mazotta, F, Lieberwirth, I, Ng, D, Schmitt, M, Popp, J, González, L, Weil, T & Pannwitz, A 2026, 'Mimicking a Light-Harvesting Complex to Accelerate Photooxidation in Asymmetric Lipid Membrane Nanoreactors', Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), vol. 65, no. 25, e1785862. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.1785862

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AU - Bösking, Julian

AU - Nau, Roland E P

AU - Alleva, Nico

AU - Jacobi, Richard

AU - Meyer-Zedler, Tobias

AU - Voßhenrich, Hannah

AU - Mazotta, Francesca

AU - Lieberwirth, Ingo

AU - Ng, David

AU - Schmitt, Michael

AU - Popp, Jürgen

AU - González, Leticia

AU - Weil, Tanja

AU - Pannwitz, Andrea

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AB - In nature, photosynthesis is driven by solar light and a large proportion of the visible spectrum is absorbed by the light harvesting complexes (LHCs), which then transfer the energy to the reaction center. Inspired by nature, we implemented a light harvesting energy transfer cascade within biomimetic lipid bilayers of liposomes built with DPPC (1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine), using membrane-anchored fluorescein, 2-(3,6-dihydroxy-9H-xanthen-9-yl)-5-dodecanamidobenzoic acid (FlC12) as primary absorber and membrane anchored eosin Y, hexadecyl 2-(2,4,5,7-tetrabromo-3,6-dihydroxy-9H-xanthen-9-yl)benzoate (EYC16), as energy acceptor to sensitize oxygen and generate the reactive oxygen species 1O2. Finally, the model substrate nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) is oxidized by 1O2 within the compartmentalizing liposome nanoreactors. It was observed that our metal-free LHC system has only a minor effect on the photooxidation rate of NADH when the nanoreactor membrane is functionalized symmetrically. By contrast, asymmetric membrane functionalization of the liposome nanoreactor membranes leads to acceleration by 16% to 27% when using multi-colored light emitting diodes (LED) or simulated solar light, respectively.

KW - compartmentalization

KW - liposomes

KW - energy transfer

KW - photosensitization, singlet oxygen

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DO - 10.1002/anie.1785862

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SN - 1433-7851

VL - 65

JO - Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)

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M1 - e1785862

ER -

Mimicking a Light-Harvesting Complex to Accelerate Photooxidation in Asymmetric Lipid Membrane Nanoreactors

Abstract

Funding

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

Keywords

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