The time for oxygen release in photosynthesis: reconciliation of flash polarography with other measurement techniques

The time for oxygen release in photosynthesis has been reported to be 30-130 ms when measured by flash polarography under low polarization voltages (Plijter et al. 1988), in opposition to 1-3 ms with light modulated oxygen polarography (Jolio et al. 1966), with the detection of produced oxygen in a flowing sample (Etienne 1968) or with photoacoustic detection of oxygen evolution (Canaani et al. 1988). However, we show here that flash polarographic measurements require properly cleaned electrodes, a precise polarization voltage, as well as a short polarization time of the electrodes. When these criteria were met, an oxygen release in less than 2 ms could be measured by flash polarography under low polarization voltages, in accordance with the other techniques. But under high polarization voltages, the interpretation of the polarographic response to oxygen production must take into account the diffusion of oxygen, the capacitance of the platinum electrode and the oxygen release time. We present a model of the electrode response taking into account these factors; by interpreting the response of the electrodes with this model, we found an oxygen release time of 1.7 ms. These evidences support strongly a short oxygen release time of 1-3 ms.