Two-dimensional free energy surfaces for primary electron transfer in a photosynthetic reaction center

Fushiki and Tachiya [Chem. Phys. Lett. 255 (1996) 83] recently analyzed the free energy surfaces of the initial electron-transfer processes in photosynthetic bacterial reaction centers. The authors state that when the results from simulations described by Warshel, Chu and Parson [Photochem. Photobiol. A: Chem. 82 (1994) 123] are analyzed using their formulation, the calculated energy of a key ion-pair state is inconsistent with experiment. They also state that previous analyses of the photosynthetic electron-transfer reactions had been limited to one-dimensional free energy surfaces. We show here that both these assertions are incorrect.