Trovato il motore della fotosintesi clorofilliana che dà energia a piante, alghe e ad alcuni gruppi di batteri: per la prima volta dopo 50 anni sono stati risolti tutti i passaggi della reazione che due miliardi di anni fa ha prodotto l'ossigeno a partire dall'acqua, trasformando l'atmosfera della Terra.
Il risultato, pubblicato sulla rivista Nature, apre a nuove soluzioni per produrre energia pulita.
Mettere al loro posto tutte le tessere del puzzle della fotosintesi è stato possibile grazie alle simulazioni chimiche e ai calcoli al supercomputer fatti in Italia, dal gruppo di Chimica computazionale diretto da Leonardo Guidoni, del dipartimento di Scienze fisiche e chimiche dell'Università dell'Aquila. Vi hanno partecipato anche Matteo Capone e Daniele Narzi. Il gruppo tedesco di Holger Dau, della Freie Universität di Berlino ha invece raccolto i dati sperimentali.
"Abbiamo ricostruito in particolare il passaggio nel quale, dall'acqua, viene creata una molecola di ossigeno", dice Guidoni. "È il momento iniziale della fotosintesi, l'innesco che crea l'energia necessaria per proseguire".
Il clima che cambia
SEIDISERA 01.02.2023, 18:45
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