Leaves change colors depending on the season and environment. Leaf color comes from pigments which are natural substances produced by leaf cells (dnr.wi.gov). There are different pigments, three, that give different colors. The colors are green from chlorophyll, red from anthocyanin, and yellow, orange, and brown from carotenoid. (dnr.wi.gov)
Chlorophyll is the chemical made in the chloroplasts of plants; in small, roundish, dense bodies which contain grana/disks (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). It is the most important in a tree because it leads to the process of photosynthesis which is vital for plants since that’s how they make their food. Organisms that make their own food are called autotrophs. Chlorophyll has similar forms, each containing a complex ring structure and a long hydrocarbon tail; it is similar to the molecular structure of hemoglobin just that it contains an iron instead of magnesium (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). The green color that chlorophyll gives is non-absorbed and, reflected, light. The colors of light that chlorophyll absorbs are red and blue-violet from the visible spectrum (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). When the amount of chlorophyll decreases, the color of the leaves (which is where photosynthesis occurs), changes.
Chlorophyll is a compound from the pigment class porphyrin; anthocyanin, flavonol, and flavones are compounds of the pigment class flavonoid; finally, carotenoid which is a pigment class with carotene, lycopene, and xanthophyll as compounds (chemistry of autumn).
There are two types of chlorophyll, type A and type B. Chlorophyll A is the pigment that uses light directly during the reactions of photosynthesis; chlorophyll B hand is an accessory pigment that acts indirectly by transferring the light it absorbs to chlorophyll A (bio.umass.edu). Conjugated bonds (alternating single and double bonds) are common within pigments and are very important because they are responsible for the absorption of…