bacteriochlorophylls

Bacteriochlorophylls (BChl) are photosynthetic pigments that occur in various phototrophic bacteria. They were discovered by C. B. van Niel in 1932. They are related to chlorophylls, which are the primary pigments in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Organisms that contain bacteriochlorophyll conduct photosynthesis to sustain their energy requirements, but the process is anoxygenic and does not produce oxygen as a byproduct. They use wavelengths of light not absorbed by plants or cyanobacteria. Replacement of with protons gives bacteriophaeophytin (BPh), the phaeophytin form.

{| class="wikitable" |+ List of major bacteriochlorophylls ! Pigment ! Taxa ! in vivo infrared absorption maximum (nm) |- | BChl a | Purple bacteria, Heliobacteria, Green Sulfur Bacteria, Chloroflexota, Chloracidobacterium thermophilum | 805, 830–890 |- | BChl b | Purple bacteria | 835–850, 1020–1040 |- | BChl c | Green sulfur bacteria, Chloroflexota, C. thermophilum, C. tepidum | 745–755 |- | BChl d | Green sulfur bacteria | 705–740 |- | BChl e | Green sulfur bacteria | 719–726 |- | BChl f | (Discovered by mutation of BChl e synthesis by analogy to BChl c/d. Not evolutionarily favorable.) | 700–710 |- | BChl g | Heliobacteria | 670, 788 |}