Indonesian Journal of Chemistry
Vol 9, No 1 (2009)

THE INFLUENCE OF STRONG AND WEAK ACID UPON AGGREGATION AND PHEOPHYTINIZATION OF CHLOROPHYLL A AND B

Lia Kusmita (Magister of Biology, Satya Wacana Christian University, Jl Diponegoro no.52-60, Salatiga)
Leenawaty Limantara (Ma Chung Research Center for Photosynthetic Pigment, Univ. Ma Chung, Malang 65151)



Article Info

Publish Date
20 Jun 2010

Abstract

Chlorophyll is green pigment that can be found in plant chloroplast. Higher plants usually have two kinds of chlorophylls, chlorophyll a and b. These green pigments are easily degraded by temperature, light intensity, oxygen, acid, and water. Water causes aggregation of chlorophyll, while acid causes pheophytinization of chlorophyll. Aggregation and pheophytinization process of chlorophyll are influenced by solvents. This study was conducted to observe the spectral difference of aggregated chlorophyll in acetone and methanol upon pheophytinization by strong (HCl) and weak acid (CH3COOH), in comparison to the non-aggregated chlorophyll. Observation of spectral pattern was carried out using double beam spectrophotometer CARY 50 at 350-1100 nm. The result shows that pheophytinization of chlorophyll a and b causes hypsochromic shift, particularly at Soret band. There are new peak formations in Qx region, specifically at 506 and 535 nm for pheophytinized-chlorophyll a, and at 371, 435, 526 and 599 nm for pheophytinized-chlorophyll b.

Copyrights © 2009






Journal Info

Abbrev

ijc

Publisher

Subject

Chemical Engineering, Chemistry & Bioengineering Chemistry

Description

Indonesian Journal of Chemistry is an International, peer-reviewed, open access journal that publishes original research articles, review articles, as well as short communication in all areas of chemistry including applied chemistry. The journal is accredited by The Ministry of Research, Technology ...