Coherent Spin Dynamics of Radical Pairs in Weak Magnetic Fields
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Coherent Spin Dynamics of Radical Pairs in Weak Magnetic Fields by Hannah J. Hogben A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Trinity Term 2011 University of Oxford Department of Chemistry Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory Oriel College Abstract Coherent Spin Dynamics of Radical Pairs in Weak Magnetic Fields Hannah J. Hogben Department of Chemistry Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory and Oriel College Abstract of a thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Trinity Term 2011 The outcome of chemical reactions proceeding via radical pair (RP) intermediates can be in- fluenced by the magnitude and direction of applied magnetic fields, even for interaction strengths far smaller than the thermal energy. Sensitivity to Earth-strength magnetic fields has been sug- gested as a biophysical mechanism of animal magnetoreception and this thesis is concerned with simulations of the effects of such weak magnetic fields on RP reaction yields. State-space restriction techniques previously used in the simulation of NMR spectra are here applied to RPs. Methods for improving the efficiency of Liouville-space spin dynamics calculations are presented along with a procedure to form operators directly into a reduced state-space. These are implemented in the spin dynamics software Spinach. Entanglement is shown to be a crucial ingredient for the observation of a low field effect on RP reaction yields in some cases. It is also observed that many chemically plausible initial states possess an inherent directionality which may be a useful source of anisotropy in RP reactions. The nature of the radical species involved in magnetoreception is investigated theoretically. It has been shown that European Robins are disorientated by weak radio-frequency (RF) fields at the frequency corresponding to the Zeeman splitting of a free electron. The potential role of superoxide and dioxygen is investigated and the anisotropic reaction yield in the presence of a RF-field, without a static field, is calculated. Magnetic field effect data for Escherichia coli photolyase and Arabidopsis thaliana cryptochrome 1, both expected to be magnetically sensitive, are satisfactorily modelled only when singlet-triplet dephasing is included. With a view to increasing the reaction yield anisotropy of a RP magnetoreceptor, a brief study of the amplification of the magnetic field experienced by a RP from nearby magnetite particles is presented. Finally in a digression from RPs, Spinach is used to determine the states expected to be immune from relaxation and therefore long-lived in NMR experiments on multi-spin systems. i Acknowledgments I must begin by thanking Prof. Peter Hore for allowing me to come and join his group for my DPhil, especially considering my previous organic tendencies, and for suggesting such interesting projects over the last three years. I am deeply grateful for all of his help when I was stuck and for always allowing me time to get to grips with each new idea at my own pace. I could not have asked for a kinder and more patient supervisor. Secondly I must thank Dr Ilya Kuprov for introducing me to state space restriction tech- niques and subsequently letting me loose with Spinach. I appreciate his help, suggestions and encouragement throughout the last three years. I am grateful to Dr. Chris Rodgers for not only giving me his γ-COMPUTE codes but also for teaching me how to use them and then for letting me modify them. I thank Prof. Blundell for helping me to understand the dynamics of magnetite nanoparticles. On a technical note thanks are due to Dr Pete Biggs for keeping my linux machine running. He has tirelessly fixed software and hardware problems for this, often rather inept, linux user. I am extremely grateful to the other members of the Hore group. The part II's of the last three years, Ian, Mikey and Dave, have been great fun to work with. Alice Bowen was delightful to have in the office, and was a source of lots of useful information about cryptochromes. Special thanks to Jason \Top Cat" Lau for helpful discussions about theory and computation, as well as being excellent company at tea time. Finally, I would like to thank Dr Till Biskup for teaching me more than a theoretical chemist really ought to know about cryptochromes and photolyases, for help with the technical aspects of writing in LATEXand for putting up with my thesis-related rants. Thanks also go to members of the Timmel group for keeping me in touch with the real world. Drs Kiminori Maeda, Kevin Henbest and Alex Robinson were invaluable for discussions about the data fitting in Chapter Five, and for showing me the experimental set-up. Kelly-Anne Ferguson kindly showed me her rotary-RYDMR experiments and has always patiently answered my questions about her experiments. ii Thanks are also due to Prof. Harry Anderson, Prof. Stephen Faulkner and Dr Brid Cronin for letting me teach physical chemistry at Keble over the last three years, I have thoroughly enjoyed it. They have provided interesting conversation and encouragement over the course of many SCR lunches. I must acknowledge my home for the past seven years, Oriel. I am very grateful to the college for awarding me a graduate scholarship for the last two years and for in general providing an extremely supportive academic and social environment. I must thank my undergraduate tutors, Prof. David Hodgson and Dr. Hugh Cartwright, both of whom are excellent teachers and have been sources of support and guidance, as well as being founts of knowledge, over the years. I would like to thank the (mostly) chemists whose company over soup at lunch time never failed to amuse me and from whom I have learnt many things about experimental magnetic field effects, electron paramagnetic resonance, neutron scattering and rocks. My house-mate and fellow part-II back in the day, Nicola Davis, I thank for lots of cups of tea. I am grateful to my marvelous friends from Oriel: Pete, Georgie, Liz, Stu, James, Katie, Mark, Tessa, Sarah and Nick who despite growing up and joining the real world still have time for their student chum and without whose friendship I would not have made it through seven years in Oxford. I would like to thank the members of Headcorn Baptist Church for their support and prayers, especially over the last few months. My final acknowledgment must be to my parents. Thanks for the unwavering love and support! I really do love you both hugely. \The heavens display the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork" Psalm 19v1 iii Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Spin . .1 1.1.1 Properties of Spin . .2 1.1.2 Single-Spin Operators . .3 1.1.3 Irreducible Spherical Tensors . .4 1.1.4 Multi-spin Operators . .5 1.2 Spin Chemistry . .6 1.2.1 Radical Pair Mechanism . .7 1.2.2 Evidence for the Radical Pair Mechanism from Magnetic Resonance . 10 1.2.3 Experimentally Observed Magnetic Fields Effects . 11 1.2.4 Biological Significance . 13 1.3 Theoretical Description . 14 1.3.1 Equation of Motion . 15 1.3.2 Calculating the Singlet Yield . 16 1.3.3 The Hamiltonian . 19 1.3.4 Liouville Space Simulations . 24 1.3.5 Reaction Kinetics . 26 1.3.6 Relaxation . 27 1.4 Summary . 31 2 State Space Restriction 33 2.1 Introduction . 33 2.1.1 Basis States . 35 2.1.2 Separating the Radicals . 37 2.1.3 MS Block Diagonalisation . 40 iv 2.2 Initial Aims . 41 2.2.1 Clusterisation . 41 2.2.2 Zero-Track Elimination . 43 2.2.3 Anisotropic Calculations . 45 2.3 Summary One . 46 2.4 Unpopulated States . 46 2.4.1 Conservation Laws . 48 2.5 Separating the Singlet State . 50 2.5.1 Path Tracing . 53 2.6 Summary Two . 53 2.7 Formation of Operators Directly into the Reduced Basis . 54 2.7.1 Implementation . 57 2.8 Symmetrisation . 58 2.8.1 Symmetry Adapted Linear Combinations . 58 2.8.2 Clebsch-Gordon Symmetrisation . 60 2.9 Relaxation . 61 2.9.1 Redfield Theory . 62 2.9.2 Generating the Full Relaxation Superoperators . 64 2.9.3 Relaxation Superoperators Directly in the Reduced State-Space . 68 2.10 Reaction Kinetics . 70 2.10.1 State-Space Restriction of Kinetic Superoperators . 70 2.11 Summary Three . 71 2.12 Spinach ......................................... 73 2.13 Some Examples . 74 2.14 Conclusion . 78 3 Entanglement, Triplet States and the Radical Pair Mechanism 79 3.1 Introduction . 79 3.2 Some Definitions . 80 3.2.1 Quantifying Entanglement . 83 3.2.2 Singlet State . 86 3.3 Entanglement and the RPM . 87 3.3.1 Isotropic Low-Field Effect . 88 v 3.3.2 Isotropic Low-Field Effect { The Directional Triplet . 94 3.3.3 Anisotropic Reaction Yields . 96 3.3.4 Entanglement Conclusion . 96 3.4 The Directional Triplet . 98 3.4.1 Intersystem Crossing . 98 3.4.2 Chemical Compass . 100 3.5 Conclusion . 103 4 The Effects of Radio-Frequency Fields on the Avian Magnetocompass 105 4.1 Introduction to Animal Navigation . 105 4.1.1 Proposed Biophysical Mechanisms of Magnetoreception . 106 4.1.2 Avian Magnetoreception . 108 4.2 Disruption of the RPM by RF-Fields . 113 4.2.1 Calculation of Time-Dependent Field Effects Using γ-COMPUTE . 114 4.2.2 Oxygen/Superoxide as Possible Counter Radicals . 117 4.2.3 Other Possible Candidates . 130 4.2.4 Summary . 132 4.3 Orientation Using RF-Fields Only . 133 4.4 Conclusions . 135 5 Modelling Experimentally Observed Magnetic Field Effects in Arabidopsis thaliana Cryptochrome 1 and Escherichia coli Photolyase 137 5.1 Introduction .