Abstract
THE study of the pigments occurring in Nature has shown that from both the hæmoglobin of animals and the chlorophyll of plants, substances of similar chemical constitution can be derived under the influence of appropriate reagents. These bodies are known as the porphyrins and are made up of pyrrol groups: but from this point the resemblance between hæmoglobin and chlorophyll ceases, since the former contains iron in its molecule, while magnesium is present in the latter; also the other groups present in the respective molecules and the functions of the substances themselves are different. How far the resemblance between these two pigments is significant is uncertain, since the details of the synthesis of hæmoglobin in the animal body are unknown, but it is possible that the pyrrol rings have some special property which serves as a useful basis on which to build up more complex substances with the peculiar properties of hæmoglobin and chlorophyll respectively. In this event the difference in their functions will be largely due to the other constituents of their molecules.
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Chlorocruorin. Nature 116, 115–116 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116115b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116115b0