Extremely weak linear electron-phonon coupling in iron-free hemeproteins studied by phase-modulated photon echo

The femtosecond accumulated photon echoes in iron-free myoglobin and iron-free cytochrome-C reveal that the linear electron-phonon coupling is extremely weak in these materials. This feature also manifests itself in the absence of the Stokes shift in the fluorescence spectrum over a wide range of temperatures from liquid-helium temperatures to near room temperatures. The origin of the weak coupling is attributed to the close packing of the porphyrin chromophores into a hydrophobic environment, which is constructed out of the polypeptide chain of the protein. The present results hint at the so-called hydrophobic compartmentalization of the chromophores as one of the important factors in reducing markedly the electron-phonon coupling in dye-polymer systems.