The key difference between chlorophyll and haemoglobin is that the chlorophyll is a photosynthetic pigment present in plants and other photosynthetic organisms while the haemoglobin is a respiratory pigment present in human blood.
Biological pigments are essential for living processes. They have a characteristic colour. Some are green in colour while some are red, orange and yellow in colour. Chlorophyll is the primary pigment of plant life. It requires the production of foods in photosynthetic organisms. On the other hand, haemoglobin is a red colour pigment present in human blood. It is a respiratory pigment that transports oxygen and nutrients around the human body. Though chlorophyll and haemoglobin present in two different types of organisms, they have a similar structure. Thus, they are composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. However, the central element is a significant difference between chlorophyll and haemoglobin. Magnesium is the central element of chlorophyll while iron serves as the central element of haemoglobin.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Chlorophyll
3. What is Haemoglobin
4. Similarities Between Chlorophyll and Haemoglobin
5. Side by Side Comparison – Chlorophyll vs Haemoglobin in Tabular Form
6. Summary
What is Chlorophyll?
Chlorophyll is the primary pigment of photosynthetic organisms including plants and algae. It is a green colour pigment capable of capturing light energy from sunlight. Actually, chlorophyll refers to a family of plant pigments. It consists of several chlorophyll pigments, but chlorophyll a and b are the common pigments.
Figure 01: Chlorophyll
Moreover, Chlorophyll molecule is composed of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. Consequently, these elements built around the central metallic ion magnesium. Chlorophylls absorb yellow and blue colour wavelengths from the electromagnetic radiation and reflect green. Hence, this is the reason why they are visible in green colour.
What is Haemoglobin?
Haemoglobin is an iron-containing pigment present in vertebrate red blood cells that transports oxygen from the lungs to the other parts of the body. Hence, it considers as a respiratory pigment. Furthermore, it is a red colour pigment that has a similar structure to that of the chlorophyll molecule.
Figure 02: Haemoglobin
Similar to chlorophyll, haemoglobin also composed of C, H, N, and O. But it contains Fe as the central ion. It not only transports oxygen, but it also transports several other gasses as well such as carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, etc.
What are the Similarities Between Chlorophyll and Haemoglobin?
- Chlorophyll and Haemoglobin are two natural pigments.
- They have a similar structure.
- Also, both possess four pyrrole rings.
- Furthermore, they are composed of same elements; C, H, O and N.
- Moreover, both are essential for living processes.
- Besides, the processes involving chlorophyll and haemoglobin handle oxygen and carbon dioxide.
What is the Difference Between Chlorophyll and Haemoglobin?
Chlorophyll is a green colour pigment present in photosynthetic organisms such as plants, algae and cyanobacteria. On the other hand, haemoglobin is a respiratory pigment present in vertebrate red blood cells. Therefore, this is the key difference between chlorophyll and haemoglobin. A further difference between chlorophyll and haemoglobin is the central ion in which the other elements are built up. Chlorophyll has a magnesium ion while haemoglobin has a Fe ion.
Also, there are many more differences between both, which is tabulated in the below infographic on difference between chlorophyll and haemoglobin.
Summary – Chlorophyll vs Haemoglobin
Chlorophyll and haemoglobin are two important pigments necessary for plant life and animal life respectively. Photosynthetic organisms such as plants, algae and cyanobacteria possess chlorophylls while red blood cells of vertebrates possess haemoglobin. Though they are present in different organisms, their structures are almost similar since they have a similar pyrrole ring. But they differ with the central ion. Chlorophyll has magnesium while haemoglobin has iron. Furthermore, their functions are different. Chlorophyll absorbs energy from sunlight for photosynthesis while haemoglobin transports oxygen from lungs to the other parts of the body. Therefore, this summarizes the difference between chlorophyll and haemoglobin.
Reference:
1.“Hemoglobin.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Nov. 2018. Available here
2.May, Paul. “Chlorophyll.” Chlorophyll, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol. Available here
Image Courtesy:
1.”Mélisse Feuilles FR 2013b”By JLPC (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2.”1GZX Haemoglobin”By Zephyris (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia