The dermacozines and light: a novel phenazine semiquinone radical based photocatalytic system from the deepest oceanic trench of the Earth

Abstract

Dermacozines, the secondary metabolites of the Mariana Trench sediment bacterium Dermacoccus abyssi MT1.1^T, were studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), furthermore literature and own experimental UV-Vis spectroscopic data. With those measurements, we determined experimentally the positions of the HOMO, which shifts towards more positive potentials, and the constant LUMO on the standard hydrogen electrode scale, while the HOMO–LUMO gap gets deeper, respectively. The HOMO energies of dermacozines experimentally were proven to be water oxidising. EPR spectroscopy demonstrated the formation of semiquinone radicals in the case of dermacozines E and O upon irradiation with visible light corresponding to the absorption maxima (AM) of the chromophores. Our findings suggest that the dermacozines may assist the strain by maintaining redox homeostasis through its respiratory chain.