title: Progress Toward a Molecular Mechanism of Water Oxidation in Photosystem II.
abstract: The active site of photosynthetic water oxidation is the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) in the photosystem II (PSII) reaction center. The OEC is a Mn4CaO5cluster embedded in the PSII protein matrix, and it cycles through redox intermediates known as Sistates (i = 0-4). Significant progress has been made in understanding the inorganic and physical chemistry of states S0-S3through experiment and theory. The chemical steps from S3to S0are more poorly understood, however, because the identity of the substrate water molecules and the mechanism of O-O bond formation are not well established. In this review, we highlight both the consensuses and the remaining challenges of PSII research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803; email: dvinyard@lsu.edu.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Vinyard
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520; email: gary.brudvig@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Gary W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Brudvig
mesh_terms: D007700:Kinetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D010788:Photosynthesis; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011522:Protons; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex; D011522:Protons; D014867:Water; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: oxygen evolution; photosynthesis; solar fuels