LIGHT-INDUCED PARAMAGNETISM IN CHLOROPLASTS

Abstract

-Oxidation-reduction processes, which play a pervasive role\rin the chemistry of living cells, necessarily involve transfer of electrons. It has\rbeen proposed by Michaelis' and others that biochemical electron transfers occur\rsingly rather than in pairs and that as a result free radicals (i.e., molecules possessing\ran unpaired electron) occur as intermediates. This proposal leads to the expectation\rthat small steady-state concentrations of free radical intermediates ought\rto be found in metabolically active tissues. Evidence on the occurrence of free\rradicals during the course of metabolic processes is therefore of interest because it\rmay be expected to enhance our understanding of the physical processes which\rgovern biological oxidations.\r