Chloroplasts and chlorophyll

• Photosynthesis is an endothermic reaction to convert carbon dioxide into simple

sugars using chlorophyll to trap sunlight. (word and symbolic equations)

• The energy is used to break the bonds between H-O in water. H is combined with
carbon dioxide to produce glucose and oxygen is released as a waste product.
• The structure of the chloroplast is well adapted to its function and relatively a large
structure in the plant cell. (fig A pg 8)

• It is a double membrane structure (outer and inner) which is called the chloroplast
envelope.
• Inside the chloroplast there are membranes arranged in layers known as grana.
(singular-granum)
• The layers of membrane discs in grana are known as thylakoids. On the thylakoids
the green pigments of chlorophyll are found.
• The pigment molecules are arranged on the membranes in the best possible position
for capturing light energy.
• There are extensions of thylakoid membranes called lamella to join grana together.
This acts as a skeleton inside the chloroplast maintaining a distance between grana
to receive maximum light.
• Grana are surrounded by stroma which contains all the enzymes needed in
photosynthesis.
• Chlorophyll is a mixture of pigments present inside chloroplast. In this mixture there
are
1. Chlorophyll a- blue,green, found in all photosynthesising plants and in the
highest quantity
2. Chlorophyll b- yellow,green
3. Carotenoids – orange carotene and yellow xanthophylls
4. Phaeophytin- breakdown product of other pigments (grey)
• The different types of chlorophyll pigments give a variation in colour to leaves. This
can be an adaptation to the habitat. Eg: many aquatic plants are red or brown to
absorb the blue light that penetrates water easily.
• Each of the pigments absorbs and captures light from particular areas of the light
spectrum.
Absorption spectra and action spectra

• The absorption spectrum describes the different amounts of light of different

wavelengths that a photosynthetic pigment absorbs. (fig B pg 8)

• Action spectrum describes the rate of photosynthesis according to the

wavelength of light. (fig C pg 8)
• The combined absorption spectrum is closely related to the action spectrum. (fig
D pg 9).

• These different types of pigments can be analysed using chromatography.

• Plant leaf extracts can be prepared by grinding up leaves with propanone and
then filtering.
• By using paper chromatography or silica gel chromatography the pigments can
be separated hence they travel up at different speeds. (fig E pg 9)

• We can determine the Rf values of the pigments after the chromatography and
compare them to the values of known pigments in the same solvent. (pigments
have different speeds in different solvents)
• Rf value – the ratio of the distance travelled by the pigment to the distance
travelled by the solvent alone. The value is always between 0 and 1. (fig F pg 9)
(table A pg 10)
• Rf value=distance travelled by solute(photosynthetic pigment)
Distance travelled by solvent
• The photosynthetic pigments absorb light in two distinct chlorophyll complexes
known as photosystem I (PS I) and photosystem II (PS II). They have different
sized particles. PS I particles are found mainly in the intergranal lamella and PS II
particles are on the grana themselves.
• Each system contains a different combination of chlorophyll pigments and
absorbs slightly different wavelengths in the spectrum. Eg: PS I 700nm and PS II
680nm