xanthophyll

Any of a class of oxygenated hydrocarbons derived from the carotenes. Xanthophylls function mainly as photosynthetic accessory pigments, and are found in many different plant species. However the xanthophylls fucoxanthin and peridinin of the brown algae are of especial interest, because they are the primary light absorbing pigments for these organisms. They absorb light at frequencies where chlorophyll has only poor absorption and transfer the absorbed energy to chlorophyll.