Effective cross section of chlorophyll for useful photons

Value 0.09 Angstrom^2
Organism Biosphere
Reference Noy D, Moser CC, Dutton PL. Design and engineering of photosynthetic light-harvesting and electron transfer using length, time, and energy scales. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2006 Feb1757(2):90-105. doi:10.1016/j.bbabio.2005.11.010 p.91 right column bottom sentencePubMed ID16457774
Comments "Typically, r for a single Chl molecule is ~0.3 Å and the maximal photon absorption rate for a single pigment is therefore ~4/sec under standard solar irradiance conditions. Hence, a PSU comprising 30–300 molecules is mandatory if typical biological catalysis rates of 10^2–10^4 S^-1 (grey band in Fig. 2) are to be achieved." This value is derived from a length parameter r of chl=0.3 Angstrom (p.91 right column bottom sentence). It represents an average over usable spectrum as seen by equations 1a-1d in the paper. See also BNID107056
Entered by Ron Milo - Admin
ID 100339