Isolated intact chloroplasts of Chlamydomonas reinhardii were found to catalyze photoreduction of CO(2) in the presence of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea when adapted under an atmosphere of H(2) demonstrating the association of a hydrogenase and anaerobic adaptation system with these plastids. The specific activity of photoreduction was approximately one third that detected in cells and protoplasts. Photoreduction was found to have a lower osmoticum optimum relative to aerobically maintained chloroplasts (50 millimolar versus 120 millimolar mannitol). 3-Phosphoglycerate (3-PGA) stimulated photoreduction up to a peak at 0.25 millimolar beyond which inhibition was observed. In the absence of 3-PGA, inorganic phosphate had no effect on photoreduction but in the presence of 3-PGA, inorganic phosphate also stimulated the reaction. Carbonyl cyanide-p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone and 2,5-dibromo-3-methyl-6-isopropyl-p-benzoquinone inhibited photoreduction but inhibition by the former could be partially overcome by exogenously added ATP. The intact plastid can also catalyze photoevolution of H(2) while lysed chloroplast extracts catalyzed the reduction of methyl viologen by H(2). Both reactions occurred at rates approximately one-third of those found in cells. The oxyhydrogen reaction in the presence or absence of CO(2) was not detected.