| Citation | Dutton was the first to demonstrate the excited triplet state of reaction-centre bacteriochlorophyll and that charge separation in the reaction centre is effected in several small steps, including electron transfer from cytochrom c to the chlorophyll and from chlorophyll to bacteriopheophytin. His work contributed very significantly to the now generally accepted sequence of electron transfer in the photosynthetic event from the spin-polarized chlorophyll triplet state through baceriopheophytin to an iron-quinone (QA) couple and finally to a secondary quinon (QB). This sequence has been fully confirmed by the three-dimension structure of bacterial reaction centre determined by others. Most recently, he has made the first study on the effect of both temperature and delta00 on the rate of electron transfer from quinines in the QA site to be oxidized bacteriochlorophyll dimmer, the results of which are an important contribution to our understanding of tunnelling theory as applied to biological systems. |