Excited-state dynamics of carotenoids in light-harvesting complexes. 1. Exploring the relationship between the S-1 and S* states

Dispersed transient absorption spectra collected at variable excitation intensities in combination with time-resolved signals were used to explore the underlying connectivity of the electronic excited-state manifold of the carotenoid rhodopin glucoside in the light-harvesting 2 complex isolated from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila. We find that the S* state, which was recently identified as an excited state in carotenoids bound in bacterial light-harvesting complexes, exhibits a different response to the increase of excitation intensity than the S