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Every green plant depends on magnesium, which sits at the center of the chlorophyll molecule.

Chemistry Facts, sourced to Royal Society of Chemistry.

What it means

Chlorophyll is a flat ring of carbon and nitrogen with a single magnesium atom held in the middle, and that atom is what makes the molecule able to catch a photon and pass its energy along. The structure is closely related to the heme group in blood, which does the same trick with iron. Green plants and red blood run on almost the same molecule with the metal swapped.

The claim comes from Royal Society of Chemistry, and the page it comes from was read on 2026-08-27 to confirm it still says this.

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