The mechanism of the proton_transfer_coupled electron transfer (PT_ET) reactions between the menaquinone Q A (MQ 1) and ubiquinone Q B (UQ 1) in the bacterial photosynthetic reaction center of Rhodopseudomona viridis was studied by using the B3LYP/6_31G(d) method. The changes of standard Gibbs free energy ΔG 0 of all possible reactions followed the ET reaction (1) were calculated. The results indicated that: (1) according to the ΔG 0 values of corresponding reactions, UQ 1 could not accept two electrons from MQ - 1 continually without the coupled proton transfer reactions. Because of ΔG 0 2b 0, ΔG 0 3b 0 and ΔG 0 4b 0, the corresponding PT_ET reactions could take place along with reactions (2b), (3b) and (4b) sequentially; (2) on the gaseous condition, the first and second transferred protons (H +(1) and H +(2)) from the surrounding amino acid residues or water molecules will combine with the oxygen No.7 and oxygen No.8 of UQ 1, respectively. On the condition of protein surroundings (by SCRF model, ε =4.0), the results are converse but the energy difference between the combination of H +(1) and H +(2) with UQ - 1 is quite small. The difference of ΔG 0 values between the corresponding reactions in gaseous surroundings and the SCRF model is not significant; (3) the PT_ET reactions between MQ 1 - and UQ 1 - should be as follows: MQ 1 -+UQ 1→MQ 1+UQ 1 - (1) UQ 1 - ( O (7) )+H +( HisL 190)→UQ 1H(2b) ( Gas ) or UQ 1 - ( O (8) )+H +(H 2O)→UQ 1H (2b') ( SCRF ) or UQ 1 - ( O (8) )+H + ( ArgL 217)→UQ 1H(2b') ( SCRF ) MQ 1 -+UQ 1H→MQ 1+UQ 1H - (3b) ( Gas ) MQ 1 -+UQ 1H→MQ 1+UQ 1H -(3b') ( SCR F) UQ 1H -+H +(H 2O)→UQ 1H 2(4b) ( Gas ) or UQ 1H -+H + ( ArgL 217)→UQ 1H 2 (4b) ( Gas ) or UQ 1H -+H + ( HisL 190)→UQ 1H 2 (4b') ( SCRF )
