Chlorophyll yield

Figure 9.37 Chemical structures of chlorophylls-a and b which contain a propionic acid esterified to a C20 phytol chlorophylls-cj and C2 have an acrylic acid that replaces the propionic acid. Also included are the pheopigments, the four dominant tetrapyrrole derivatives of chloropigments (pheopigments) found in marine and fresh-water/estuarine systems (chlorophyllide, pheophorbide, pheophytin, pyropheophorbide.) More specifically, chlorophyllase-mediated de-esterification reactions (loss of the phytol) of chlorophyll yield chlorophyllides. Pheophytins can be formed when the Mg is lost from the chlorophyll center. Pheophorbides are formed from removal of the Mg from chlorophyllide or removal of the phytol chain from pheophytin, and pyrolyzed pheopigments, such as pyropheophorbide and pyropheophytin, are formed by removal of the methylcarboxylate group (-COOCH3) on the isocylic ring from the C-13 propionic acid group.

Angle-resolved linear dichroism (LD) measurements across the absorption spectrum of chlorophyll yield the order parameter of the effective transition moment. 

Excitation fluorescence anisotropy (FA) measurements using narrow-band detection at the two emission maxima of chlorophyll yield the FA (r] and X2) for the two effective emission transitions, see figure 2. 

C2oH4qO- a diterpenic alcohol obtained by the action of alkalis on chlorophyll. Colourless oil b.p. 202-204 C/lOmm. On oxidation it yields a ketone CigHsoO b.p. 175 "C/l I mm. phytoxic Poisonous to plants. 

Photoexcited fluorescence from spread monolayers may be studied [158,159] if the substance has both a strong absorption band and a high emission yield as in the case for chlorophyll [159]. Gaines and co-workers [160] have reported on the emission from monolayers of Ru(bipyridine)3, one of the pyridine ligands having attached C g aliphatic chains. Ruorescence depolarization provides information about the restriction of rotational diffusion of molecules in a monolayer [161], Combining pressure-area... 

Kolubayev T, Geacintov N E, Paillotin G and Breton J 1985 Domain sizes in chloroplasts and chlorophyll-protein complexes probed by fluorescence yield quenching induced by singlet-triplet exciton annihilation Biochimica Biophys. Acta 808 66-76... 

In this way, the near-linear chlorophyll-phosphorus relationship in lakes depends upon the outcome of a large number of interactive processes occurring in each one of the component systems in the model. One of the most intriguing aspects of those components is that the chlorophyll models do not need to take account of the species composition of the phytoplankton in which chlorophyll is a constituent. The development of blooms of potentially toxic cyanobacteria is associated with eutrophication and phosphorus concentration, yet it is not apparent that the yield of cyanobacterial biomass requires any more mass-specific contribution from phosphorus. The explanation for this paradox is not well understood, but it is extremely important to understand that it is a matter of dynamics. The bloom-forming cyanobacteria are among the slowest-growing and most light-sensitive members of the phytoplankton. ... 

Although /3-oxidation is universally important, there are some instances in which it cannot operate effectively. For example, branched-chain fatty acids with alkyl branches at odd-numbered carbons are not effective substrates for /3-oxidation. For such species, a-oxidation is a useful alternative. Consider phy-tol, a breakdown product of chlorophyll that occurs in the fat of ruminant animals such as sheep and cows and also in dairy products. Ruminants oxidize phytol to phytanic acid, and digestion of phytanic acid in dairy products is thus an important dietary consideration for humans. The methyl group at C-3 will block /3-oxidation, but, as shown in Figure 24.26, phytanic acid a-hydroxylase places an —OFI group at the a-carbon, and phytanic acid a-oxidase decar-boxylates it to yield pristanie add. The CoA ester of this metabolite can undergo /3-oxidation in the normal manner. The terminal product, isobutyryl-CoA, can be sent into the TCA cycle by conversion to succinyl-CoA. 

If a typical plant leaf yields 40.0 mg of chlorophyll A, how many milligrams of this will be magnesium The molecular weight of chlorophyll A is 893. 

The transformation of the porphyrin intermediate 4 into a chlorin can be achieved after introduction of a C — C double bond into the 15-propanoate side chain of 4 to yield 5. The cyclization of 5 with participation of the 15-acrylic ester side chain under acidic conditions gives the chlorin 6 which is then transformed in a multistep reaction sequence into chlorophyll a. The driving force of chlorin formation from the porphyrin is believed to be the relief of steric strain at the sterically overcrowded porphyrin periphery which gives the desired trans arrangement of the propanoate side chain and the methyl group in the reduced ring. The total... 

Several chemical transformations in the chlorin series were discovered during the course of Woodward s total synthesis of chlorophyll a.3a d An important reaction in the final steps of this total synthesis is the removal of an a-oxo acid ester residue from the 17-position of the chlorin 22, which proceeds very smoothly in the presence of base by a retro-aidol-type fragmentation to yield the chlorin isopurpurin methyl ester (23) which is also available by degradation of chlorophyll a, so that at this point of the synthesis synthetically derived material could be compared with an authentic sample prepared from natural chlorophyll a. 

The formation of bacteriochlorins from chlorophyll derivatives has also been studied.8 The reduction product 16 of methyl 3 -oxorhodochlorin-l 5-acetate (see Section 1.2.2.) undergoes photooxygenation with singlet oxygen to yield finally a bacteriochlorin 17. 

Transformations which alter the bacteriochlorin chromophore are quite rare. An important reaction in the structural elucidation of the bacteriochlorophylls is the dehydrogenation to chlorophyll derivatives. Thus, bacteriopyromethylpheophorbide a (1) can be smoothly dehydrogenated with 3,4,5,6-tetrachloro-l,2-benzoquinone to the corresponding chlorin 3-acetyl-pyromethylpheophorbide a (2) in high yield.1 la,b... 

Nickel(II) chlorophyll derivatives undergo catalytic hydrogenation with Raney nickel as catalyst to yield stereoisomeric isobacteriochlorins in which ring A of the chlorophyll derivatives is reduced.16... 

Measured end points are photosynthesis as the incorporation of radiolabelled H C03 ( C) and bacterial activity as the incorporation of radiolabelled thymidine (thym) fluorometric measurements basal fluorescence (Fo) and photon yield (Y) chlorophyll-a concentration (chl-a) species composition (spp) and the biovolume of algae obtained after algal counting (biovolume)... 

The fluorescent lifetime of chlorophyll in vivo was first measured in 1957, independently by Brody and Rabinowitch (62) using pulse methods, and by Dmitrievskyand co-workers (63) using phase modulation methods. Because the measured quantum yield was lower than that predicted from the measured lifetime, it was concluded that much of the chlorophyll molecule was non-fluorescent, suggesting that energy transfer mechanisms were the means of moving absorbed energy to reactive parts of the molecule. 

Bjorkman, O. (1987). Low-temperature chlorophyll fluorescence in leaves and its relationship to photon yield of photosynthesis in photoinhibition. In Photoinhibition, ed. D.J. Kyle, C.B. Osmond and C.J. Arntzen, pp. 123-44. Amsterdam Elsevier. 

Bjorkman, O. Demmig, B. (1987). Photon yield of oxygen evolution and chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics at 77 K among vascular plants of diverse origins. Planta, 170, 489-504. 

Demmig, B. Bjorkman, O. (1987). Comparison of the effect of excessive light on chlorophyll fluorescence (77 K) and photon yield of O2 evolution in leaves of higher plants. Planta, 171,171-84. 

Krause, G.H. Laasch, H. (1987). Energy-dependent chlorophyll fluorescence quenching in chloroplasts correlated with quantum yield of photosynthesis. Zeitschrift fiir Naturforschung, 42, 581. ... 

Esterification of the propionic acid side chain at C-13 (ring C) with a methyl group catalyzed by S-adenosyl-L-methionine-magnesium protoporphyrin 0-meth-yltransferase yields protoporphyrin IX monomethyl ester (MPE), which originates protochlorophyllide by a P-oxidation and cyclization of the methylated propionic side chain. This molecule contains a fifth isocyclic ring (ring E), the cyclopentanone ring that characterizes aU chlorophylls. 

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide has found no extensive application so far, yet it is of great interest for scientists in the fields of theoretical and applied electrochemistry. To a certain extent, it is analogous to the photochemical carbon dioxide reduction, but it involves no chlorophyll and yields simpler products. In recent years some books and reviews on this topic have been published (e.g., Taniguchi, 1989 Sullivan et al., 1993 Bagotsky and Osetrova, 1995). 

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