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The Study of Chlorophyll Content in Various Plants
The Study of Chlorophyll Content in Various Plants
PLANTS
A Project Report
Submitted by
ABHISHEK MATH
BIOLOGY
AT
2014-15
CERTIFICATE
I am highly indebted to Mrs. Nikhila and Mrs. Gayathri for the constant
supervision, providing necessary information and support in completing
the project. I would like to express my gratitude towards them for their
kind co-operation and encouragement.
Finally, I extend my gratitude to one and all who are directly or indirectly
involved in the successful completion of this project work.
Signature of the
Candidate
TABLE OF CONTENTS
9 Bibliography 19
INTRODUCTION
We extract the pigments from various leaves, and with the addition of
various chemicals methodically, we separate the various pigments present
in leaves like, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenioids, and
xanthophylls. We then measure the quantity of each, and put all the data
in a table to compare the levels of various pigments in various plants.
The colour of leaves we see is not due to a single pigment but due to four
pigments namely chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, xanthophylls and
carotene.
Chlorophyll a
Chlorophyll a is essential for most photosynthetic organisms to
release chemical energy but is not the only pigment that can be used for
photosynthesis. One molecule of chlorophyll a forms the reaction centre.
It absorbs energy from wavelengths of violet and red light.
The molecular structure of chlorophyll a consists of a chlorin ring, whose
four nitrogen atoms surround a central magnesium atom, and has several
other attached side chains and a hydrocarbon tail.
Chlorophyll b
Chlorophyll b helps in photosynthesis by absorbing light energy.It is
more soluble than chlorophyll a in polar solvents because of
its carbonyl group. Its color is yellow, and it primarily absorbs blue light.
In land plants, the light
harvesting antennae around photosystem II contain the majority of
chlorophyll b.
Xanthophylls
Xanthophylls (originally phylloxanthins) are yellow pigments that form
one of two major divisions of the carotenoid group. Their molecular
structure is similar to carotenes, which form the other major carotenoid
group division, but xanthophylls contain oxygen atoms,
while carotenes are purely hydrocarbons with no oxygen.
Carotenes
Carotene is an orange photosynthetic pigment important
for photosynthesis. Carotenes are all coloured to the human eye.
Carotenes contribute to photosynthesis by transmitting the light energy
they absorb to chlorophyll. They also protect plant tissues by helping to
absorb the energy from singlet oxygen, an excited form of the oxygen
molecule O2 which is formed during photosynthesis.
EXPERIMENT
Chlorophyll content in various plant species
Requirements
Chemicals required:
Acetone
Diethyl ether
Petroleum ether
Methyl alcohol
Calcium carbonate
Potassium hydroxide
Distilled water
PROCEDURE
Take 10g of fresh leaves in pestle and crush it with 4ml 80%
acetone. Add a little CaCO3 and again crush it. Filter the extract in
a Buchner funnel. The filtrate is called acetone extract and it is rich
in chlorophyll and carotenoids.
Take 4ml of the acetone extract and add petroleum ether. Shake
funnel gently.
Add water and shake again. Two layers will be formed. Upper
containing petroleum ether will contain chlorophyll a and carotene.
Two layers are obtained. Upper has chlorophyll a and lower has
carotene.
To the lower methyl alcohol layer add 5ml diethyl ether and shake.
Add water slowly 1ml at a time. Two layers are obtained. The
upper layer is the diethyl ether layer and lower contains methyl
alcohol.
Discard lower layer.
To the upper layer add 1.5ml 30% methyl alcohol-KOH. Shake
funnel and add water.
Two layers are obtained.
Upper layer contains chlorophyll b and lower contains xanthophyll.
Collect the samples, weigh them and note the amount of
chlorophyll pigments present in them.
OBSERVATION TABLE
A B
1 SPINACH 3.4 0.6 4.6 4.82
2 FENUGREEK 1.76 0.5 2.92 3.16
3 BOUGAINVILLA 1.75 0.37 2.23 2.37
4 MINT 3.4 1.02 4.73 4.63
5 CABBAGE 3.59 0.55 5.3 4.9
RESULT
Each type of leaf has various levels of pigments based on its genetic
constitution, exposure to light, age, season, wind, precipitation,
photosynthetic rate, respiration rate, and protein level.
Out of the five leaves tested, cabbage had the highest level of Chlorophyll
a, and Bougainvillea the lowest. The highest level of Chlorophyll b was
present in mint while the lowest level was present in mint while the
lowest level was present in Bougainvillea. Cabbage had the most
Carotene and Bougainvillea had the least. Cabbage also had the greatest
level of Xanthophylls and Bougainvillea had the least.
* www.wikipedia.org
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