Basics of Photo Pigments (IMAGE)
Caption
Nature provides three starting points for the design of synthetic pigments: porphyrin, chlorin, and bacteriochlorin. Each of these macrocyles has an alternating double-bond pathway (in blue) that gives the molecule its basic electronic properties, including the ability to absorb visible or near infrared light. Hemoglobin is a porphyrin that lends blood its red color; chlorophyll, the pigment in green plants, is a chlorin; and the pigments in purple photosynthetic bacteria are bacteriochlorins. As the color-coded absorption spectra show, the three types of pigments absorb different colors of sunlight (brown).
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Holten/WUSTL
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