ON THE PHOTOPHYSICS AND PHOTOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CAROTENOIDS AND THEIR ROLE AS LIGHT-HARVESTING PIGMENTS IN PHOTOSYNTHESIS

In photosynthetic organisms, carotenoids have been implicated in sever al diverse roles. Yet, owing to profound technical difficulties encoun tered in attempting to examine the electronic state energies and dynam ics of carotenoids both in vitro and in vivo, several questions remain , and much of the data and interpretations of the results are controve rsial. This paper will discuss some of these questions and controversi es, the resolution of which is important in unraveling the manner in w hich carotenoids function in photosynthetic systems.