We investigated the characteristics of modified forms of bacteriorhodopsin in which the native retinal chromophore is replaced by a chemical analog ("bacteriorhodopsin analogs"), embedded in a polymer film. We found they displayed differential absorption spectra and kinetic curves for the most long-lived intermediates of the BR photocycle. We also studied the influence of chemical reagents on the functioning of bacteriorhodopsin analogs in polymeric films. We found that the immobilization of BR analogs in polymer leads, as in the case of native BR, to a slowing down of their photocycles. Kinetic analysis showed that M-like state intermediates of all the BR analogs have a longer dark relaxation time than native BR. The retention and retardation of the photocycle in these films suggest that films based on BR analogs can be used as photochromic materials. Moreover, 4-keto BR seems to be more promising for this application as compared not only with native BR, but also with other analogs of BR studied in this work.

中文翻译：

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基于细菌视紫红质的一些类似物研究聚合物薄膜的光谱和动力学性质。

我们研究了细菌视紫红质修饰形式的特征，其中天然视网膜发色团被嵌入聚合物膜中的化学类似物（“细菌视紫红质类似物”）取代。我们发现，它们显示了BR光循环寿命最长的中间体的差分吸收光谱和动力学曲线。我们还研究了化学试剂对聚合物膜中细菌视紫红质类似物功能的影响。我们发现，与天然BR一样，将BR类似物固定在聚合物中会导致其光循环减慢。动力学分析表明，所有BR类似物的M样状态中间体都比天然BR具有更长的暗弛豫时间。这些膜中光循环的保留和延迟表明基于BR类似物的膜可用作光致变色材料。而且，不仅与天然BR，而且与在这项工作中研究的BR的其他类似物相比，4-酮BR对于该应用似乎更有希望。