Natural colorants, history

The rubber industry has a long and colorful history. Natural rubber is produced from latex, a milky fluid found in cells that lie between the bark and the wood of many plants. You may have seen latex flow from the broken stalks of milkweed plants, but the source of commercial rubber is the Hevea tree, a native of Brazil. When the bark of this tree is slashed, its milky white sap oozes out and can be collected in cups mounted on the tree s trunk. The people of the Amazon jungle made bouncing balls, shoes, and water Jars out of rubber, and Portuguese explorers sent waterproof boots and a rubber-coated coat back to their king. The first commercial exports included some rubber shoes shipped to Boston in 1823. 

Based on a wide range of pharmacological effects and its history, and safety, curcumin has significant potential for use in cosmetic products. As an anti-inflammatory, it has been used in antiaging products. It is commonly used as a natural colorant (27), but has also found numerous uses as an antiseptic, in the prevention of dry skin, in the treatment of eczema and acne and the slowing down of wrinkles and aging. Turmeric and curcumin are found in facial masks, washes, lip balms, and sunscreens. Clinical supports of these label... 

Humans have used dyes to create color since the dawn of history. Until the mid-nineteenth century, all dyes were of natural origin. Many came from plants, such as indigo, a dark blue dye that was extracted from the leaves of a native East Indian plant. In 1856, the young English chemist William Perkin stumbled upon the first synthetic dye. Perkin was trying to synthesize quinine, a valuable antimalaria dmg. None of his experiments met with success. As he was about to discard the residue from yet another failed reaction, Perkin noticed that it was colored with a purple tinge. He washed the residue with hot alcohol and obtained a purple solution from which strikingly beautiful purple crystals precipitated. Perkin had no idea what the substance was or what reactions had created it, but he immediately saw its potential as a new dye. 

William Henry Perkin, an 18-year-old working in the back room and outdoor shed of his London home, had discovered in black coal tar a beautiful purple dye that would change the world. For the first time in history, color could be democratized. William Henry Perkin and his purple, later known as mauve, rescued the poor and middle classes from their age-old austerity of hues. Natural dyes were expensive and, before Perkin s synthetic mauve, millions of poor people lived their lives in untreated drab and dingy fibers. Even for the middle class, pieces of brilliantly dyed cloth were treasures to be reused from garment to garment and from year to year. It was the schoolboy William Henry Perkin and his successors who would give the world the ample abundance of tints that only the rich had previously enjoyed. 

How Do Feathers Get Their Colors The Bird Site, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, http //www.lam.mus.ca.us/birds/guide/pg012.html... 

A fascinating guide into the history and modern uses of the inert gases, including their new, little-known ability to combine.) bottley, e. p., Rocks and Minerals, G. P. Putnams Sons, New York, 1969 (An advanced book, with beautifully colored pictures of elements and compounds as they are found in nature.) fisher, douglas a., Steel from the Iron Age to the Space Age, Harper and Row, New York, Evanston, and London, 1967 (The story of steel, and the men who made it.) newcomb, ellsworth and kenny, hugh, Miracle Metals, G. P. Putnam s Sons, New York, 1962... 

Throughout history, mankind has always been interested in naturally occurring compounds from prebiotic, microbial, plants and animals sources. Various extracts of flowers, plants and insects have been used for isolating compounds whose task, color and odor could be used for various purposes. Many natural products, such as plant hormones, have a regulatory role, while others function as chemical defense against pests. The role of certain compounds is to act as chemical messengers, such as sex-attractants (pheromones) in insects, terrestrial and marine animals and humans. What is the origin of natural products ... 

Bromine.—Of the three halogens, chlorine, bromine, and iodine, bromine has the least eventful history. Its elemental nature and its relation to chlorine and iodine were recognized from the very first. While studying the mother-liquid which remains after the crystallization of salt from the water of the salt-marshes of Montpellier, A. J. Balard was attracted by the intense yellow coloration developed when chlorine water is added to the liquid. A. J. Balard digested the yellow liquid with ether decanted off the supernatant ethereal soln. and treated this with potassium hydroxide. The colour was destroyed. The residue resembled potassium chloride but unlike the chloride, when heated with manganese dioxide and sulphuric acid it furnished red fumes which condensed to a dark brown liquid with an unpleasant smell. 

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