Chemically modified bacteriorhodopsin (BR) films embedded in gelatin matrix were fabricated. It was found that chemically modified BR/gelatin film remained the original conformation of BR and possessed homogeneity. Then, the photochemical conversion from all-trans 0 state to 9-cis P state in the chemically modified BR film/gelatin was investigated. For comparison purpose, the same conversion in the wild-type BR (BRwt) film was also presented here. To our know, it is the first report to show that the absorption changes of the P state in the chemically modified BR film were larger than in the BRwt film upon illumination with red light at the low actinic power density. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.