Spectroscopic and Thermodynamic Studies of Chlorophyll Containing Monolayers and Vesicles Part II: Chlorophyll a and Pheophytin a Aggregation on DMPC Vesicles

Absorption and fluorescence experiments on pheophytin and chlorophyll containing lipid bilayer vesicles are reported. Pheophytin aggregates on the vesicles are established from an additional red shifted band (at 695 nm) in the absorption spectrum. These aggregates contain pheophytin in an arrangement with the molecular planes of the porphyrin rings being parallel and cover about 10% of the vesicle surface. The lipid phase dissolves pheophytin up to a molar ratio of 15% above the lipid phase transition. This solubility limit decreases hardly on solidification of the lipid. For chlorophyll a containing vesicles the aggregates are not observed in the absorption spectrum. The chlorophyll solubility is about equal to that of pheophytin. This suggests that the phase separa­ tion indicated from fluorescence measurements at temperatures below the lipid phase transition does not lead to the formation of strongly bound chlorophyll aggregates.