Crossword clues for chlorophyll
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Chlorophyll \Chlo"ro*phyll\, n. [Gr. chlwro`s light green + fy`llon leaf: cf. F. chlorophylle.]
(Bot.) Literally, leaf green; a green granular matter formed in the cells of the leaves (and other parts exposed to light) of plants, to which they owe their green color, and through which all ordinary assimilation of plant food takes place. Similar chlorophyll granules have been found in the tissues of the lower animals. [Written also chlorophyl.]
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any of a group of green pigments found in photosynthetic organisms. Chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b are found in higher plants and green algae; chlorophyll c is found in certain types of marine algae. Chemically, it has a porphyrin ring with a magnesium ion bound to the four central nitrogens, and has a phytyl side chain. It is essential for photosynthesis in most plants. Chlorophyll a has formula C55H72N4O5Mg.
Syn: chlorophyll.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
green-colored stuff in plants, 1819, from French chlorophyle (1818), coined by French chemists Pierre-Joseph Pelletier (1788-1842) and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou (1795-1877) from Greek khloros "pale green" (see Chloe) + phyllon "a leaf" (see phyllo-).
Wiktionary
n. (context biochemistry English) Any of a group of green pigments that are found in the chloroplasts of plants and in other photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria.
WordNet
n. any of a group of green pigments found in photosynthetic organisms [syn: chlorophyl]
Wikipedia
Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is a term used for several closely related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words χλωρός, chloros ("green") and φύλλον, phyllon ("leaf"). Chlorophyll is an extremely important biomolecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to absorb energy from light. Chlorophyll absorbs light most strongly in the blue portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, followed by the red portion. Conversely, it is a poor absorber of green and near-green portions of the spectrum which it reflects, hence the green color of chlorophyll-containing tissues. Chlorophyll was first isolated and named by Joseph Bienaimé Caventou and Pierre Joseph Pelletier in 1817.See:
- Pelletier and Caventou (1817) "Notice sur la matière verte des feuilles" (Notice on the green material in leaves), Journal de Pharmacie, 3 : 486-491. On p. 490, the authors propose a new name for chlorophyll. From p. 490: ''"Nous n'avons aucun droit pour nommer une substance connue depuis long-temps, et à l'histoire de laquelle nous n'avons ajouté que quelques faits ; cependant nous proposerons, sans y mettre aucune importance, le nom de chlorophyle, de chloros, couleur, et φυλλον, feuille : ce nom indiquerait le rôle qu'elle joue dans la nature."'' (We have no right to name a substance [that has been] known for a long time, and to whose story we have added only a few facts ; however, we will propose, without giving it any importance, the name chlorophyll, from chloros, color, and φυλλον, leaf : this name would indicate the role that it plays in nature.)
Usage examples of "chlorophyll".
All plants, moreover, have the power of dissolving albuminous or proteid substances, such as protoplasm, chlorophyll, gluten, aleurone, and of carrying them from one part to other parts of their tissues.
He was looking specifically for chlorophyll, chloroplasts, magnesium, and other signs of plant life.
In this moss the filamentous protonema is capable of assimilation, but the leaves of the small plants are destitute of chlorophyll, so that they are dependent on the protonema.
Though Spock preferred his greens to possess a distinct bite of chlorophyll, without any admixture of hemoglobin or myoglobin or whatever animal protein preceded the greens in the synthesizer, he could subsist on poorly designed food.
The striations contain the chlorophyll, and the little spheres nestling against these striations contain the phycobilins, which make a red alga red.
Multispectrals on all major chlorophylls, xanthophylls, carotenoids: iron and soil nitrogen, too.
In the epidermis of the apophysis functional stomata, similar to those of the higher plants, are present and, since cells containing chlorophyll are present below the superficial layers of the apophysis and capsule, the sporogonium is capable of independent assimilation.
Chloroplast is a plastid which contains chlorophyll, with or without any other pigments, embedded singly or in considerable numbers in the cytoplasm of a plant cell.
For example, porphyrin complexed with iron or magnesium is the nonprotein part of hemoglobin and chlorophyll.
A microsphere could thus be formed with a little nucleic acid able to replicate itself, perhaps with a little help from the proteinoid of the microsphere, or with a molecule similar to chlorophyll that would enable it to use the energy of the sun without having to wait for that energy to transform the simple chemicals of the atmosphere into more proteinoid.
A filamentous protonema is first developed, some of the branches of which are exposed to the light and contain abundant chlorophyll, while others penetrate the substratum as brown or colourless rhizoids.
After a few additional days the illdefined zone of cells becomes distinct, and although it does not extend across the whole width of the petiole, and although the cells are of a green colour from containing chlorophyll, yet they certainly constitute a pulvinus, which as we shall presently see, acts as one.
We can break it down into etiopyrophorin, which, like chlorophyll, contains four pyrrole groups.
The dorsiventral thallus is constructed on the same plan throughout the group, and shows a lower region composed of cells containing little chlorophyll and an upper stratum specialized for assimilation and transpiration.
On the other hand, in the slices surrounded by damp cottonwool, the grains of chlorophyll were green and as perfect as ever.