Photosynthesis analog, plausible?

So on a planet with a chlorine based atmosphere and only a small amount of oxygen, here is my proposed mechanism for chlorine based photosynthesis.

Carbon tetrachloride, since it is a liquid at 70 degrees Fahrenheit or 23 degrees Celsius, needs to be absorbed through the soil mostly though some does come from the air. HCl vapors and HOCl vapors are also absorbed into the black leaves. The leaves are black because since Chlorine absorbs UV and violet and blue light, all that is left for the plants is the range from red light to green light. As a result, they evolved a black pigment to absorb as much as they can of this light.

This also means that the plants get hot because they absorb a ton of infrared and then release some of it. So animals have evolved infrared vision to find these plants in the dark.

But anyway, back to what I was saying about photosynthesis.

HCl and HOCl are both hydrogen sources, HOCl is an oxygen source, and CCl4 is a carbon source. 6 of each are required to make 1 glucose. I haven't figured out exactly how this occurs but the black pigment that makes the plants get hot and release some infrared definitely helps this process by absorbing a lot of energy which can then be used to split the chlorine off of these molecules.

So you get this equation for chlorine based photosynthesis:

${6HCl + 6HOCl + 6 CCl_4 + light -------> 1 C_6H_{12}O_6 + 18Cl_2}$

Cellular respiration would essentially be the reverse of this except that the energy would be in a different form. So is this a plausible form of photosynthesis for plants adapted to living on a planet with a chlorine based atmosphere or is there a better alternative that still produces the glucose and chlorine but requires less energy for it to happen?

posted over 5 years ago

Caters‭

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