In water-oxidizing photosynthetic organisms, light absorption generates a powerfully oxidizing chlorophyll complex (P680 â €¢ +) in the photosystem II reaction centre. This is reduced via an electron transfer pathway from the manganese-containing water-oxidizing catalyst, which includes an electron transfer relay comprising a tyrosine (Tyr)-histidine (His) pair that features a hydrogen bond between a phenol group and an imidazole group. By rapidly reducing P680 â €¢ +, the relay is thought to mitigate recombination reactions, thereby ensuring a high quantum yield of water oxidation. Here, we show that an artificial reaction centre that features a benzimidazole-phenol model of the Tyr-His pair mimics both the short-internal hydrogen bond in photosystem II and, using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, the thermal relaxation that accompanies proton-coupled electron transfer. 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