Photosynthetic pigments may be chlorophyll, carotenoids and phycobillins.Chlorophyll and carotenoids are insoluble in water,whereas phycobillins are soluble in water. There are several types of chlorophylls, while carotenoids are of two types :-
Chlorophyll-a is a bluish green in colour (molecular weight 893).It is universal pigment in photosynthetic organisms excluding bacteria.
Chlorophyll -b is yellowish green in colour (molecular weight 907) and chlorophyll -b is usually absent in cyanophyceae,phaeophyceae, xanthophyceae ,rhodophyceae and bacilariophyceace
Carotenoids have two types : carotenes and xanthophylls.Carotene is C40H56 with orange colour;Xanthophylls is C40H56O2 with yellowish colour.
