Extraction and quantification of chlorophyll a from freshwater green algae

With the refinement of microanalytical methods useful for quantifying plant pigments, the extraction procedure appears to be one of the key steps in chlorophyll analysis. Comparisons of two solvents; methanol and acetone and four methods of extraction; probe sonication, bath sonication, tissue grinding and maceration by mortar and pestle were performed. Using methanol, a probe sonicator was more efficient in chlorophyll a extraction than the other extraction methods (p<0.01). Methanol was the better solvent in all but the maceration method. The maceration method was equally effective for both solvents but was statistically lower (p<0.01) than achieved by methanol and probe sonicator.