Abstract
ONE of the major unresolved problems in the chemistry of vision remains the detailed mechanism by which absorption of a photon by rhodopsin can ultimately change the permeability of the rod plasma membrane to Na+ ions1. We demonstrate here that excitation to the lowest singly-excited π,π* singlet state of a realistic model of the visual chromophore triggers a sudden, short-lived, electrical signal in which charge moves from one end of the molecule to the other. We suggest that this electrical signal is the crucial, primary event in the overall mechanism leading to vision.
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SALEM, L., BRUCKMANN, P. Conversion of a photon to an electrical signal by sudden polarisation in the N-retinylidene visual chromophore. Nature 258, 526–528 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/258526a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/258526a0
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