Question

The role of pigments both in capturing light energy and in converting it to the chemical energy of ATP and NADPH.

Answer 1

Answer:

The explanation of the processes in which pigments are involved (capturing light and forming ATP and NADPH) is given in the following paragraphs)

Explanation:

Pigments are molecules with the capacity of absorbing light. Each pigment captures light of a specific wavelength. Plants contain different types of pigments like chlorophylls, xanthophylls, carotenoids, and others.

Chloroplasts (organelles present in cells of plants), contain pigmants that absorb solar radiation, triggering a series of reactions collectively known as photosynthesis. When light incides on a pigment, an electron of this molecules is excitated, goes into another level of energy and starts to pass through a series of carrier molecules to finally to a final aceptor of electrons. During this transport, part of the energy contained in the electron is used to generates a hydrogen gradient that provides energy. As a result of these processes, a molecule that is called  NADP+ accepts two electrons and an hydrogen to form NADPH, while another molecule known as ADP captures  an atom of phosphorous and gives rise to ATP (through the action of a protein called ATP sintase)..