Magnetic field-induced increase in chlorophyll a delayed fluorescence of photosystem II: A 100- to 200-ns component between 4.2 and 300 K.

At room temperature the delayed fluorescence (luminescence) of spinach chloroplasts, in which the acceptor Q is prereduced, consists of a component with a lifetime of 0.7 mus and a more rapid component, presumably with a lifetime of 100-200 ns and about the same integrated intensity as the 0.7- mus component. Between 4.2 and 200 K only a 100- to 200-ns luminescence component was found, with an integrated intensity appreciably larger than that at room temperature. At 77 K the 150-ns component approached 63% of saturation at roughly the same energy as the variable fluorescence of photosystem II at room temperature. At 77 K the emission spectra of prompt fluorescence but not that of the 150-ns luminescence had a preponderant additional band at about 735 nm. The 150-ns emission also occurred in the photosystem I-lacking mutant FL5 of Chlamydomonas. These experiments indicate that the 150-ns component originates from photosystem II. At room temperature a magnetic field of 0.22 T stimulated the 0.7-mus delayed fluorescence by about 10%. At 77 K the field-induced increase of the 150-ns component amounted to 40-50%, being responsible for the observed approximately 2% increase of the total emission; the magnetic field increased the lifetime about 20%. In order to explain these phenomena a scheme for photosystem II is presented with an intermediary acceptor W between Q and the primary donor chlorophyll P-680; recombination of P-680(+) and W(-) causes the fast luminescence. The magnetic field effect on this emission is discussed in terms of the radical pair mechanism.