Photosynthetic pigments of green sulfur bacteria. The esterifying alcohols of bacteriochlorophylls c from Chlorobium limicola.

Bacteriochlorophyll c, the light-harvesting pigment from the green sulfur bacteria Chlorobium limicola, has been resolved into over a dozen chemically similar components by a new high pressure reversed-phase chromatographic procedure based on a stationary phase of polyethylene power. Detailed spectroscopic characterization of the resolved components has resulted in the identification of four different chlorins and six different esterifying alcohols. The major esterifying alcohol is trans, trans-farnesol, but smaller amounts of geranylgeraniol, tetrahydrogeranylgeraniol, phytol, cis-9-hexadecen-1-ol and 4-undecyl-2-furanmethanol are also observed. The high information content intrinsic in the compositional analyses of the complex pigment mixtures found in green sulfur bacteria appears to provide a new probe of the mechanisms of pigment biosynthesis in these organisms.