The relationship of intercompartmental excitation transfer rate constants to those of an underlying physical model

In studies on photosynthetic systems it is common practice to interpret the results of time-resolved fluorescence experiments on the basis of compartmental, or target, models. Each compartment represents a group of molecules with similar fluorescence characteristics. In cases of practical interest, the members of each compartment are spatially contiguous and make up part of an overall energy-transferring system. Since a rate constant describing the overall transfer between compartments is not that of any pair of molecules in the system, this question naturally rises: what do we learn about the microscopic structure from these data? In this note we introduce ‘compartment melting’, a smooth mathematical connection between the compartmental and microscopic levels. We then show, on the basis of model calculations on finite lattices in one, two, and three dimensions, that average microscopic rates at the interfaces between compartments may be estimated from observed intercompartmental rates. The estimate involves a modest number of structural assumptions about the system. As examples of the method, which is applicable mainly to systems containing homogeneous pigment pools, some recent chlorophyll-protein antenna studies are analyzed.