In This Issue

Photosynthesis is an important process occurring in a variety of biological systems and involves the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy. The interest of scientists has been devoted to understanding the mechanism of this transformation to eventually be able to mimic and reproduce nature’s efficiency. In this issue of Chem, Son et al. study the role of lutein, one of the carotenoids present in the light-harvesting complex of plants, in the photosynthetic process. They show that this molecule is able to extend the solar energy absorption by harvesting a portion of the spectrum complementary to chlorophyll and redistribute it. Lutein is demonstrated to be both a photoprotective and an active molecule in photosynthesis