Abstract
IN continuation of our investigations upon the Algæ1, we have observed the presence of a peculiar carotenoid in the unsaponifiable fraction of one of the Cyanophyceæ (Myxophyceæ), namely, Rivularianitida. The pigment, for which we propose the name myxoxanthin, crystallises from ether-methyl alcohol in deep copper-coloured needles, m.p. 117°–118° (uncorr.), and unlike any other phytocarotenoid hitherto isolated, exhibits only one absorption band, having its head at 488–490 m in carbon disulphide. In this respect myxoxanthin resembles the Crustacean pigment astacene2; but unlike the latter, it has no acidic properties and is completely epiphasic when subjected to the Kraus partition between methyl alcohol and light petroleum. Its failure to yield a sodium salt precludes the possibility of its being hæmatochrome, which pigment is reputed to exist in certain Algæ and is likewise stated to possess only a single absorption band3.
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References
Heilbron, Phipers and Wright, NATURE, 133, 419; 1934. J. Chem. Soc., 1572; 1935. Heilbron and Phipers, Biochem. J., 29, 1369; 1935. Heilbron, Parry and Phipers, Biochem. J., 29, 1376, 1382; 1935.
Kuhn and Lederer, Berichte, 66, 488; 1933.
Kylin, Z. phys. Chem., 168, 39; 1927.
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HEILBRON, I., LYTHGOE, B. & PHIPERS, R. A New Type of Plant Lipochrome. Nature 136, 989 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136989b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136989b0
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