The kinetics of photosynthesis

Abstract

It has been proved that the primary process in photosynthesis is an oxidation-reduction reaction. Expressing this in the simplest terms of chlorophyll, a complex of chlorophyll A and hydrated CO 2 is converted by the action of light into chlorophyll B and activated formaldehyde which at once undergoes polymerization into hexoses. The chlorophyll B thereby produced undergoes the dark or Blackman reaction and is reduced to chlorophyll A. There are, therefore, three separate processes involved in the photosynthetic cycle, namely, the primary photosynthetic reaction, the Blackman reaction, and the formation of the photosensitive complex of chlorophyll A and hydrated CO 2 . Since the Blackman reaction regenerates chlorophyll A from the chlorophyll B produced in the primary reaction, a photostationary state will be established which is determined by the intensity of irradiation, the temperature and the external concentration of hydrated CO 2 . In this communication the equation for the photostationary state is derived, and shown to express correctly the variation in the rate of photosynthesis with temperature.