NEAR-INFRARED FOURIER-TRANSFORM RAMAN STUDY OF CHLOROPHYLL a IN SOLUTIONS

Abstract— The 1064 nm excited Fourier-transform (FT) Raman spectra have been measured for chlorophyll a (Chl- a ) in various solutions. Features of the obtained spectra are largely different from those of Soret-resonant Raman spectra of Chl- a . For example, a band due to the C=0 stretching mode of the 13-keto group is much stronger in the former than in the latter. Although the excitation wavelength is rather far from that of the Qy absorption of Chl- a , notable enhancements of bands due to the C=O stretching mode of the 13¹-keto group and to the C=C stretching mode of the vinyl group and those in the 1250–600 cm^-1 region suggest that the 1064 nm-excited Raman spectra of Chl- a are preresonance enhanced via the Qy band. Some of the marker bands for the coordination number of the central Mg atom, which have been used in the visible-excited resonance Raman spectra, are not valid in the 1064 nm-excited Raman spectra. Instead, new marker bands are found in the latter. The 1064-nm excited Raman spectra of Chl- a in a hydrated hexane solution reveal that the dehydrated oligomer of Chl- a as well as Chl- a -water micelles coexist in the solution. They also suggest that the size of the oligomer is considerably larger and the hydrogen bonding of the 13¹-keto group in the oligomer is weaker than that in the micelles.