Chemically driven electron tunnelling pumps

Abstract

The simplest mechanism for molecular electron pumps is discussed which is based on nonadiabatic electron tunnelling and nonequilibrium conformational fluctuations. Such fluctuations can be induced, e.g. by random binding of negatively charged ATP molecules to the electron-transferring molecular complex, their subsequent hydrolysis and the products dissociation. The pumping rate can be controlled by the ATP concentration in solution. Depending on the model parameters there may exist a critical ATP concentration for the pump to function. Alternatively, nonequilibrium fluctuations can be induced by externally applied stochastic electric fields. For realistically chosen parameters, the mechanism is shown to be robust and highly efficient.