Molecular basis for the photosynthetic primary process.

In this paper, the molecular details for the primary reaction in photosynthesis are deduced from several recent critical experimental observations. A symmetrical structure is proposed for the basic unit of the reaction center in plant photosynthesis. A mathematical consequence of the symmetrical arrangement is the creation of an anomalously long-lived trap state, which makes possible the summation of a reaction-center triplet excitation and an antenna chlorophyll singlet excitation to bring the photoactive chlorophylls to a charge-transfer state prior to entering into a primary photochemical reaction.