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The action spectra of chlorophyll molecules are slightly modified in vivo depending on specific pigment-protein interactions. An action spectrum is a graph of the rate of biological effectiveness plotted against wavelength of light. [1] It is related to absorption spectrum in many systems.
Top: Absorption spectra for chlorophyll-A, chlorophyll-B, and carotenoids extracted in a solution. Bottom: PAR action spectrum (oxygen evolution per incident photon) of an isolated chloroplast. Chlorophyll, the most abundant plant pigment, is most efficient in capturing red and blue light.
This mismatch between absorption spectra and photochemical action plots has by now been observed in a wide array of photoreactive systems. [41] [42] [43] A prominent example is the photoinduced [2+2] cycloaddition of the stilbene derivative, styrypyrene, which exhibited an 80 nm discrepancy between the action plot and absorption spectrum. [33]
The following is a breakdown of the energetics of the photosynthesis process from Photosynthesis by Hall and Rao: [6]. Starting with the solar spectrum falling on a leaf, 47% lost due to photons outside the 400–700 nm active range (chlorophyll uses photons between 400 and 700 nm, extracting the energy of one 700 nm photon from each one)
Light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis at the thylakoid membrane. Photosystems are functional and structural units of protein complexes involved in photosynthesis. Together they carry out the primary photochemistry of photosynthesis: the absorption of light and the transfer of energy and electrons.
The reaction center contains two pigments that serve to collect and transfer the energy from photon absorption: BChl and Bph. BChl roughly resembles the chlorophyll molecule found in green plants, but, due to minor structural differences, its peak absorption wavelength is shifted into the infrared, with wavelengths as long as 1000 nm. Bph has ...
When Emerson exposed green plants to differing wavelengths of light, he noticed that at wavelengths of greater than 680 nm the efficiency of photosynthesis decreased abruptly despite the fact that this is a region of the spectrum where chlorophyll still absorbs light (chlorophyll is the green pigment in plants - it absorbs mainly the red and blue wavelengths from light).
Electrons in pigment molecules can exist at specific energy levels. Under normal circumstances, they are at the lowest possible energy level, the ground state. However, absorption of light of the right photon energy can lift them to a higher energy level. Any light that has too little or too much energy cannot be absorbed and is reflected.