A couple of studies that might explain how water removes and transports chlorophyll. It suggest a binder protein that is water soluble.
Functions of the water soluble chlorophyll-binding protein in plants.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21481489
· © 2004 American Society of Plant Biologists
A Novel Role of Water-Soluble Chlorophyll Proteins in the Transitory Storage of Chorophyllide12
1. http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/134/4/1355.abstract
Judging by the links you assume that the water dissolves or weakens the attachment of grains of chlorophyll within the chloroplast?
Unfortunately, these articles are not readily available to my understanding. My familiarity with the anatomy of the cell is limited only by -
Popular articles on the physiology of plants
I was interested in the location of the chlorophyll in the cell when suddenly got an emerald-green butane extract, washed from dry sepals peeled from fem seeds.
Green puzzled me, because the chlorophyll does not dissolve in nonpolar butane.
Then I decided that this strange behavior of chlorophyll depends on how the grains of chlorophyll are attached to the tissues of plants.
If they are held by some grease or wax, which are soluble in butane, after the dissolution of these compounds are released and the chlorophyll grains fill butane solution in a suspended state, but not dissolved.
With the naked eye, we cannot distinguish individual objects smaller than 50 microns and visually perceive suspension as a solution. Chl grains are 2-10 microns.
But even in these articles they write that the membranes are hydrophobic and water-soluble proteins are rare.
All chlorophyll (Chl)-binding proteins involved in photosynthesis of higher plants are hydrophobic membrane proteins integrated into the thylakoids. However, a different category of Chl-binding proteins, the so-called water-soluble Chl proteins (WSCPs), was found in members of the Brassicaceae, Polygonaceae, Chenopodiaceae, and Amaranthaceae families.
If we extract with alcohol and mix that alcohol and oil mixture with equal parts of hexane and saturated salt water, the color comes out with the water. I asked Joe to include that in his explanation, but the salt helps strip the protective lipids.
I have never tried it with straight water, though I did clean up my extraction of bud pipe resin with straight water. In that case, chlorophyll wasn't an issue.
I used this polar->nonpolar gateway, transferring the desired resin from the green solution in ethanol to non-polar petroleum ether, it was the British lighter fluid "Newport."
The procedure was carried out in several stages.
I added small portions of petroleum ether, shaking vigorously, waiting for the separation of layers, took a yellowed layer of ether with a syringe and added a fresh portion instead of removed.
Of course, each successive portion was painted paler than the previous one.
Only in the last step I added water. Without water, the layers are separated much faster and a very inconvenient boundary layer of emulsion does not form.
Chlorophyll, as it is insoluble in a nonpolar solvent, always remains in alcohol and after adding water, chlorophyll remains in alcohol, diluted with water, but not in water.
In my opinion, this ancient technology from the era before the butane in no way indicates the solubility of chlorophyll in the water.
Unfortunately Water cannot wash away Chlorophyll.