Excited-state dynamics of fully reduced flavins and flavoenzymes studied at subpicosecond time resolution

The photophysics of the fully reduced states of a number of flavins (flavin mononucleotide, flavin adenine dinucleotide and 3-N-methyllumiflavin) and flavoenzymes (glucose oxidase from Aspergillus niger and the flavodehydrogenase component isolated from flavocytochrome b2) was studied using subpicosecond laser excitation at lambda = 312 nm. The prompt transient absorption spectra (measured from 400 to 850 nm) were all closely similar in the case of the free flavins in aqueous solution. The decay of the transient absorbance obeyed biexponential kinetics with a fast component of lifetime ranging from 4 to 130 ps and a slower phase with a lifetime above 1 ns. The spectral structure changed appreciably during the rapid decay phase. In contrast, in the case of the enzymes only a very slight decay was apparent over the probed time interval (1 ns) and the shape of the spectrum remained unchanged. It is proposed that the two transient spectra appearing in the free flavins correspond to two conformations differing by their degree of nonplanarity, whereas in the flavoenzymes only one conformation is possible.