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In oxygenic photosynthesis, the first electron donor is water, creating oxygen (O 2) as a by-product. In anoxygenic photosynthesis, various electron donors are used. Cytochrome b 6 f and ATP synthase work together to produce ATP (photophosphorylation) in two distinct ways.
The underlying force driving these reactions is the Gibbs free energy of the reactants relative to the products. If donor and acceptor (the reactants) are of higher free energy than the reaction products, the electron transfer may occur spontaneously. The Gibbs free energy is the energy available ("free") to do work.
Cornelis Van Niel made key discoveries explaining the chemistry of photosynthesis. By studying purple sulfur bacteria and green bacteria, he was the first to demonstrate that photosynthesis is a light-dependent redox reaction in which hydrogen reduces (donates its atoms as electrons and protons to) carbon dioxide.
Photosystem II is present on the thylakoid membranes inside chloroplasts, the site of photosynthesis in green plants. [9] The structure of Photosystem II is remarkably similar to the bacterial reaction center, and it is theorized that they share a common ancestor. The core of Photosystem II consists of two subunits referred to as D1 and D2 ...
The third substrate is Q, which accepts the second electron from the QH 2 and is reduced to Q.−, which is the ubisemiquinone free radical. The first two substrates are released, but this ubisemiquinone intermediate remains bound. In the second step, a second molecule of QH 2 is bound and again passes its first electron to a cytochrome c acceptor.
Photosynthesis is a process where light is absorbed or harvested by pigment protein complexes which are able to turn sunlight into energy. [5] Absorption of a photon by a molecule takes place when pigment protein complexes harvest sunlight leading to electronic excitation delivered to the reaction centre where the process of charge separation can take place.
The following is a breakdown of the energetics of the photosynthesis process from Photosynthesis by Hall and Rao: [6]. Starting with the solar spectrum falling on a leaf, 47% lost due to photons outside the 400–700 nm active range (chlorophyll uses photons between 400 and 700 nm, extracting the energy of one 700 nm photon from each one)
Carbon on Earth naturally occurs in two stable isotopes, with 98.9% in the form of 12 C and 1.1% in 13 C. [1] [8] The ratio between these isotopes varies in biological organisms due to metabolic processes that selectively use one carbon isotope over the other, or "fractionate" carbon through kinetic or thermodynamic effects. [1]