Abstract
THE pigment echinenone was recently isolated by one of us from the sexual glands of the sea urchin Echinus esculentus1. The glands from 400 urchins were first extracted with acetone. The extracted pigments were then separated into hydrocarbon and xanthophyll fractions by partition between petroleum ether and 90 per cent methyl alcohol. The echinenone was contained in the former solvent both before and after saponification, and was separated from -carotene by the chromatogram method. The new pigment was absorbed as a dark violet layer in the upper part of the column of slaked lime. After extraction, 4 mgm. of dark violet needles with a metallic lustre (m.p. 192°–193°) were obtained. In carbon disulphide solution a broad band with three ill-defined maxima at 520, 488 and 450 m was shown; in alcohol these bands were even less pronounced. From the spectroscopic properties and elementary analysis (C40H58O) (± H2) it would appear probable that echinenone is a mono-ketone occupying an intermediate position between -carotene and semi--carotene.
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Lederer, C.R. Acad. Sci., 201, 300 (1935).
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LEDERER, E., MOORE, T. Echinenone as a Provitamin A. Nature 137, 996 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137996b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137996b0
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