The photochemistry and function of carotenoids in photosynthesis

Abstract

In photosynthetic systems, carotenoids act as light-harvesting molecules and provide photoprotection of the plant and bacterial species (Cogdell and Frank 1987; Siefermann-Harms 1985). In many cases, themanner in which aparticular carotenoid functions depends on its photochemical properties. Carotenoids participate in an abundance of photochemical reactions including singlet-singlet energy transfer, triplet-triplet energy transfer, oxidation, reduction and isomerisation. Carotenoid molecules are capable of reporting information about the course of these reactions from readily observable changes in many of their molecular spectroscopic properties.