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Medical Definition of Phorbin
1. The parent hydrocarbon of chlorophyll; differs from porphin (porphyrin) in the presence of an isocyclic ring formed by the addition of a two-carbon group bridging the 13 and 15 positions of porphin (porphyrin) and by saturation of the 17-18 double bond (with realignment of conjugated double bonds). Addition of hydrocarbon side-chains in specific locations yields phorbin's characterised by prefixes; e.g., phenophorbin. (05 Mar 2000)