Chlorophylls are the most obvious natural pigments on Earth where they can be observed even from satellites in outer space: they also sustain life on Earth through their involvement in photosynthesis. With 37 authoritative chapters, this book reviews recent progress and current status of studies on the chemistry, metabolism and spectroscopy of chlorophylls, bacteriochlorophylls and their protein complexes. Also discussed is progress on the applications of the chlorophylls as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy of cancerous tumours, and as molecular probes in biochemistry, medicine, plant physiology, ecology and geochemistry. This book summarizes the chemical, physical, biological and medical aspects of chlorophyll (and bacteriochlorophyll) research and development, with a focus on the tremendous progress achieved over the past 15 years. Each section has an up-to-date introductory overview which is followed by a series of concise well-focused and fully-referenced chapters written by experts in (bio)chemistry, (bio)physics, photobiology and photomedicine.

An Overview of Chlorophylls and Bacteriochlorophylls: Biochemistry, Biophysics, Functions and Applications.- Synthesis, Reactivity and Structure of Chlorophylls.- Chlorophyll c Pigments: Current Status.- Unusual Tetrapyrrole Pigments of Photosynthetic Antennae and Reaction Centers: Specially-tailored Chlorophylls.- [Heavy metal]-Chlorophylls Formed in Vivo During Heavy Metal Stress and Degradation Products Formed During Digestion, Extraction and Storage of Plant Material.- Spectroscopy and Structure Determination.- Spectrometric Assays for Plant, Algal and Bacterial Chlorophylls.- Chlorophyll Analysis by New High Performance Liquid Chromatography Methods.- Large Scale Chlorophyll Preparations Using Simple Open-Column Chromatographic Methods.- Chlorophyll Metabolism, an Overview.- Biosynthesis of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid.- Transfer RNA-Dependent Aminolevulinic Acid Formation: Structure and Function Of Glutamyl-tRNA Synthetase, Reductase and Glutamate-1-Semialdehyde-2,1-Aminomutase.- The Pathway from 5-Aminolevulinic Acid to Protochlorophyllide and Protoheme.- Biosynthesis of Chlorophylls a and b: The Last Steps.- Bacteriochlorophyll Biosynthesis in Green Bacteria.- Involvement of Tetrapyrroles in Cellular Regulation.- Chlorophyll Catabolites and the Biochemistry of Chlorophyll Breakdown.- The Evolution of Chlorophylls and Photosynthesis.- The Infl uence of Protein Interactions on the Properties of the Bacteriochlorophyll Dimer in Reaction Centers.- Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance of the Chlorosomes.- Single Molecule Spectroscopy of Pigment Protein Complexes from Purple Bacteria.- Effects of Axial Coordination, Electronic Excitation and Oxidation on Bond Orders in the Bacteriochlorin Macrocycle, and Generation of Radical Cation on Photo- Excitation of in vitro and in vivo Bacteriochlorophyll a Aggregates: Resonance Raman Studies.- Mapping the Global Ring Currents in Porphyrins and Chlorins.- Bacteriochlorophyll Protein Maquettes.- Molecular Assembly of Bacteriochlorophyll Complexes Using Synthetic Light-Harvesting Model Polypeptides.- Reconstitution and Pigment Exchange.- Assembly of Model Bacteriochlorophyll Proteins in the Native Lipid Environment.- Photosynthetic Functions of Chlorophylls.- Excitation Energy Transfer Between (Bacterio)Chlorophylls—the Role of Excitonic Coupling.- Mechanisms of Carotenoid-to-Bacteriochlorophyll Energy Transfer in the Light Harvesting Antenna Complexes 1 and 2: Dependence on the Conjugation Length of Carotenoids.- Electron Transfer in Photosynthetic Reaction Centers.- Chlorophyll Sensitizers in Photodynamic Therapy.- Bacteriochlorophyll Sensitizers in Photodynamic Therapy.- Metal-substituted Bacteriochlorophylls: Novel Molecular Tools.- Chlorophyll Fluorescence as a Reporter on in vivo Electron Transport and Regulation in Plants.- Meeting the Challenge of Monitoring Chlorophyll in the Ocean from Outer Space.- Geochemistry of Chlorophylls.