Why Is Green the Most Efficient Color for Photosynthesis?

The green color of plants is due to a pigment called chlorophyll. During photosynthesis, sunlight supplies the required energy. This energy is trapped by the green pigments present in plant cells.

Significance

• The function of green-coloring matter in plants is very important. The green pigments are mainly concerned with energy reactions in the cell, with the elaboration of chlorophyll and carbohydrate synthesis.

Structure

• In higher plants, chlorophyll is present in chloroplastids, which have two distinct parts: grana and stroma. Grana are green-colored discoid bodies and remain embedded in the stroma, which is light colored.

Types

• The green-coloring matter of plants is not a single pigment but consists of four pigments: chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, orange-red carotene and yellow xanthophyll. The latter two pigments are known as "carotenoid pigments."

Function

• The main function of chlorophyll is photosynthesis, the process by which green plants produce carbohydrate food in the presence of sunlight.

Mechanism

• The photosynthesis process is divided into light and dark reactions. In the light reaction, photolysis takes place. In the dark reaction, phosphoglyceric acid is formed. It is reduced to aldehydes from which carbohydrates are synthesized.