Determination of Chlorophyll a and Pheophytin a Concentrations in Acetone Extracts by Laser Fluorometry

Abstract

We have used the technique of laser fluorometry for chlorophyll a and pheophytin a measurements in 90% acetone/water extracts of sea-water phytoplankton. In our method, the acetone Raman signal is used as an internal standard. We have shown that use of the second harmonic of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser (λ = 532 nm) makes it possible to measure pigment concentrations as low as 10 ng/L. It creates favorable conditions for high-efficiency analysis of the phytoplankton pigments in the oligotrophic areas of the world ocean and for investigations of the feed process of individual zooplankton samples.