North Carolina State University researcher synthesize photosynthetic pigment in bacteria
In North Carolina, researchers from North Carolina State University have successfully synthesized bacteriochlorophyll a, a photosynthetic pigment found in bacteria which absorbs infrared light. The work represents the first chemical synthesis of this molecule and could give scientists deeper insights into photosynthetic function and photosynthetic energy.
“There are two ‘worlds’ of photosynthesis: the green plant-based world that all of us are familiar with, and a microbial world that represents a simpler form of photosynthesis where no oxygen is made,” says Jonathan Lindsey, Glaxo Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at NC State and corresponding author of the research.
“These photosynthetic microbes have been intensively studied as a cornerstone of basic science in the field of photosynthesis,” Lindsey says. “But their light-absorbing pigments have not been targets of chemical synthesis.”
This is due, in part, to the structure of the bacteriochlorophyll a molecule, a large, disc-shaped molecule, or macrocycle, composed of five rings of atoms. Structurally, the outer fifth ring – known as ring E – has always been a challenge for chemists.
Category: Research
