Photochemical solar energy conversion is considered as an alternative of clean energy. For future light converting nano-machines photosynthetic reaction centers are used as prototypes optimized during evolution. We introduce a reaction scheme for global optimization and simulate the ultrafast charge separation in photochemical energy conversion. Multiple molecular charge carriers are involved in this process and are linked by Marcus-type electron transfer. In combination with evolutionary algorithms, we unravel the biological strategies for high quantum efficiency in photosynthetic reaction centers and extend these concepts to the design of artificial photochemical devices for energy conversion. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.