leucophyll

— Fischer's observations confirmed Lyubimenko's opinion that protochlorophyll represents an oxidised form of chlorophyll arising as a by-product during synthesis. Lyubimenko assumed that the first stage of chlorophyll synthesis is oxidation of the chlorophyll precursor, i.e., the hypothetical leucophyll. [...] The principal stages of initial chlorophyll biosynthesis are the condensation of pyrrole compounds with free alpha-positions, resulting in the formation of a more complex precursor of chlorophyll, i.e., a colorless leuco-compound corresponding to leucophyll. Oxidation of leucophyll leads to the formation of protochlorophyll.