Issue 11, 2002

Stabilization of chlorophyll a in mesoporous silica and its pore size dependence

Abstract

Chlorophyll a extracted from natural Spirulina was adsorbed by mesoporous silica, FSM. The amount adsorbed depended on the pore size. Few chlorophyll molecules were adsorbed by a usual silica gel and FSMs with pore sizes of less than 2 nm. However, more than 10 wt% of chlorophyll was adsorbed by FSMs with larger pore sizes. Chlorophyll dissolved in benzene was markedly discolored. On the other hand, a chlorophyll–FSM conjugate in water was much more photostable. The stability increases with increasing pore diameter of the FSM in the chlorophyll–FSM conjugate. The absorption maximum is 665 nm for the isolated chlorophyll a in benzene. The adsorption on the outer surface of silica gel and the mesoporous silica shifts the absorption maximum to 673 nm, and the adsorption in the mesopores of diameters of more than 2.5 nm shifts to 677 nm, which resembles the case of chlorophyll in natural leaves. We concluded that the photostability is attributable not only to the chlorophyll–FSM interaction but also to chlorophyllchlorophyll interactions in the nanometer scale spaces.

Graphical abstract: Stabilization of chlorophyll a in mesoporous silica and its pore size dependence

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Apr 2002
Accepted
24 Jun 2002
First published
03 Oct 2002

J. Mater. Chem., 2002,12, 3275-3277

Stabilization of chlorophyll a in mesoporous silica and its pore size dependence

T. Itoh, K. Yano, Y. Inada and Y. Fukushima, J. Mater. Chem., 2002, 12, 3275 DOI: 10.1039/B203923K

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