X-ray scattering combined with coordinate-based analyses for applications in natural and artificial photosynthesis

Advances in X-ray light sources and detectors have created opportunities for advancing our understanding of structure and structural dynamics for supramolecular assemblies in solution by combining X-ray scattering measurement with coordinate-based modeling methods. In this review the foundations for X-ray scattering are discussed and illustrated with selected examples demonstrating the ability to correlate solution X-ray scattering measurements to molecular structure, conformation, and dynamics. These approaches are anticipated to have a broad range of applications in natural and artificial photosynthesis by offering possibilities for structure resolution for dynamic supramolecular assemblies in solution that can not be fully addressed with crystallographic techniques, and for resolving fundamental mechanisms for solar energy conversion by mapping out structure in light-excited reaction states.