Abstract
Karrer and Pieper reported in 1930 that the principal pigment of blackberry, Rubus fructicosus L., was either identical or isomeric with chrysanthemin or cyanidin-3-β-monoglucoside1. They obtained compact polyhedral rhombs of a pigment chloride which was indistinguishable in colour properties from an authentic sample of chrysanthemin chloride, and differed from it only in respect of crystal form. Natural chrysanthemin chloride from Chrysanthemum indicum L.2, and the chloride of synthetic cyanidin-3-β-monoglucoside3 were known to crystallize in diamond-shaped leaflets. It was suggested that the observed difference might be due to traces of impurity in the product from blackberry1. Afterwards, blackberry was shown to contain a second unidentified anthocyanin by paper chromatography4. More recently, I have isolated from blackberry5 a crystalline anthocyanin chloride, essentially free from the second minor component. The product was obtained in leaflets, and appeared to bear a reasonable resemblance to the crystals of chrysanthemin chloride shown in a published microphotograph2. However, an air-dried sample of this material was analysed correctly as a monohydrate5, while chrysanthemin chloride crystals had previously been found to contain 1½ moles of water of crystallization2,3. No analysis for an air-dried sample was provided by Karrer and Pieper1.
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References
Karrer, P., and Pieper, B., Helv. Chim. Acta, 13, 1067 (1930).
Willstätter, R., and Bolton, E. K., Ann., 412, 136 (1916).
Mukarami, S., Robertson, A., and Robinson, R., J. Chem. Soc., 2666 (1931).
Bate-Smith, E. C., Nature, 161, 835 (1948).
Huang, H. T., J. Agric. Food Chem., 3, 141 (1955).
Veibel, S., in “The Enzymes: Chemistry and Mechanism of Action”, edited by Sumner, J. B., and Myrback, K., 1, Pt. 1, 583 (Academic Press, New York, 1950).
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HUANG, H. Enzymatic Identification of the Anthocyanin Pigment of Blackberry. Nature 177, 39 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/177039a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/177039a0
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