International Collaboration in Chemistry on Photochemistry & Redox-Properties of Chlorophyll-Catabolites

化学部生命过程化学（CLP）计划的化学国际合作（ICC）奖，由NSF国际科学与工程办公室（OISE）提供补充资金，支持哥伦比亚大学的Nicholas J. Turro教授和因斯布鲁克大学的Bernhard Kraeutler教授的合作工作，他得到了奥地利科学基金会的支持，开展叶绿素降解的基础研究。 叶绿素，由于其在植物光合作用中的作用，是生命科学中最重要和研究最好的分子之一。因斯布鲁克大学的研究小组通过分离和表征叶绿素降解产物来研究叶绿素在叶子和果实中是如何降解的。 哥伦比亚大学的首席研究员和他的国际团队研究叶绿素降解产物的重要光化学。 对叶绿素降解产物的光化学研究可以帮助我们理解为什么这些自然形成的降解产物每年都大量产生。由于这些天然产物中的一些在被紫外线激发后会发出可见光，这种现象提供了一种新的手段，通过光致发光以非侵入性的方式深入了解植物细胞死亡过程，该提案的更广泛影响是显着的，从学生的培训到对叶绿素降解产物可能对各种生物过程的作用的基本理解。 在哥伦比亚的PI已经启动了一个互联网合作实验室（iCollaboratory），以促进使用视听技术与他在美国和国外的研究合作者进行交流。

This International Collaboration in Chemistry (ICC) award in the Chemistry of Life Processes (CLP) program in the Division of Chemistry, with supplemental funds provided by the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) at NSF, supports collaborative work by Professor Nicholas J. Turro of Columbia University and Professor Bernhard Kraeutler of the University of Innsbruck, who is supported by the Austrian Science Foundation, to carry out fundamental studies on chlorophyll degradation. Chlorophyll, because of its role in photosynthesis in plants, is one of the most important and best studied molecules in the life sciences. The team at the University of Innsbruck investigates "how" chlorophyll is degraded in leaves and in fruit by isolating and characterizing chlorophyll degradation products. The principal investigator at Columbia and his international team study the important photochemistry of chlorophyll degradation products. Investigation of the photochemistry of the degradation products of chlorophyll may provide an understanding of "why" these naturally formed degradation products are produced in enormous quantities every year. Since some of these natural products emit visible light after being excited by ultraviolet light this phenomenon provides a new means of obtaining insights into cell death processes of plants in a non-invasive manner by photoluminescence.The broader impacts of the proposal are significant and range from the training of students to a fundamental understanding of the role that chlorophyll degradation products may have on a variety of biological processes. The PI at Columbia has initiated an internet collaboration laboratory (iCollaboratory) to promote the use of audiovisual techniques to communicate with his research collaborators in the United States and abroad.