LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Chlorophyll
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Chlorophyll is the pigment that gives plants and algae their green color. Plants use chlorophyll to trap light needed for photosynthesis (1). The basic structure of chlorophyll is a porphyrin ring similar to that of heme in hemoglobin, although the central atom in chlorophyll is magnesium instead of iron. The long hydrocarbon (phytol) tail attached to the porphyrin ring makes chlorophyll fat-soluble and insoluble in water. Two different types of chlorophyll (chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b) are found in plants (structures of natural chlorophylls). The small difference in one of the side chains allows each type of chlorophyll to absorb light at slightly different wavelengths.
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Chlorophyll is the green pigment in plants that occurs chiefly in the chloroplasts (specialized cytoplasmic bodies). It is involved in photosynthesis (the manufacture of carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water, utilizing light energy and releasing oxygen). Because life could not continue without chlorophyll, its importance cannot be minimized. However, the value of chlorophyll in human health and disease is exaggerated by promoters of wheat grass, barley green, blue-green algae, chlorella, cereal grass, and other products. The fact that grass-eating animals are not spared from infectious or degenerative diseases despite their large intake of fresh chlorophyll attests to its limitations. Furthermore:
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Chlorophyll molecules embedded in the thylakoid membrane absorb light energy. These molecules are the most important pigments for absorbing the light energy used in photosynthesis. A chlorophyll molecule has a hydrophobic "tail" that embeds the molecule into the thylakoid membrane. The "head" of a chlorophyll molecule is a ring called a porphyrin. The porphyrin ring of chlorophyll, which has a magnesium atom at its center, is the part of a chlorophyll molecule that absorbs light energy. Examine the illustration to view the chlorophyll molecule and to learn which wavelengths of light are absorbed by this pigment.
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Chlorophyll analysis is completed using a fluorometer. Each sample is sipped into the machine where it enters a glass tube. The fluorometer sends light at a wavelength of 430 nanometers into the chlorophyll sample. This wavelength of light causes the chlorophyll molecules to fluoresce, or give off light. This fluorescence is then measured at a different wavelength (663 nanometers). The more chlorophyll in the tube, the more light that is given off at 663 nanometers.
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Chlorophyll is green, and the rubbing alcohol broke down the cells' membranes allowing the chlorophyll to be released into the water. In nature, chlorophyll needs sunlight to work. When it turns to autumn and there's less light, the chlorophyll starts to disappear from real leaves. Since the chlorophyll makes the leaves green, when you remove it from a leaf, the leaf's true color shows. The leaves suddenly begin to lose color and turn a yellow, gold or reddish color.
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Chlorophyll is readily extracted with the oil from oil seeds. The chlorophyll imparts a greenish colour to the crude oil. If this oil is then processed by conventional refining techniques the chlorophyll is converted to the pigment pheophytin, which gives oil a dark, dull brown tinge, and contributes to an off-flavour. It may ... promote the oxidation of the oil, and thus reduce its storage stability.
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Chlorophyll