Natural pigments carotenoids

Delgado-Vargas, R, Jimenez, A.R., and Paredes-Lopez O., Natural pigments carotenoids, anthocyanins, and betalains — characteristics, biosynthesis, processing, and stability, Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr., 40, 173, 2000. 

DELGADO-VARGAS, F., JIMENEY, A. R. and PAREDES-LOPEZ, O. (2000). Natural Pigments Carotenoids, Anthocyanins and Betalains - characteristics, biosynthesis, processing and stability. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 40 (3) 173-289. 

Carotenoids are natural pigments characterized by a tail to tail linkage between two C20 units and an extended conjugated system of double bonds They are the most widely dis tributed of the substances that give color to our world and occur m flowers fruits plants insects and animals It has been estimated that biosynthesis from acetate produces approximately a hundred million tons of carotenoids per year The most familiar carotenoids are lycopene and (3 carotene pigments found m numerous plants and easily isolable from npe tomatoes and carrots respectively... 

The carotenoids are the most widely distributed group of pigments, occur naturally in large quantities, and are known for their structural diversity and various functions. The carotenoids constitnte a widespread class of natural pigments that occur in all three domains of life in the eubacteria, the archea, and the eucarya. Carotenoids are ubiquitous organic molecules, but they are not produced by the human body. They have been fonnd to be essential to human health based on the nutritional understanding of vitamin A (retinol) and (i-carotene. ... 

Stable dispersion of water-insoluble and/or hydrophobic natural pigment such as carotenoid, curcumin, porphyrin pigment, or vegetable carbon black in form of bodies of average size of 10 ram Addition of 0.5 ppm P-carotene to yogurt containing 200 ppm riboflavin color did not change after 40 days at 6°C compared with control (decoloration at 1 day)... 

Natural pigment production for food coloration includes the entire spectrum of biotechnologies. For example, biological production of carotenoid pigments has medical implications because carotenoids are nutritive (pro-vitamin A), antioxidant, and photoprotective. Carotenoids are produced alternately in agricultural systems (plants), industrial bioreactors (bacterial and fungi), and marine systems (cyanobacteria and algae). 

Similarly, Karrer and oo-workers discovered that the carotenoid flower pigment trollixanthin (XV),103 as veil aa the related substances anthoroxsnthin, M, i4 violaxanthin, 1 and epoxylutein, 10-(1 all contain epoxide units. The. subject of naturally-occurring carotenoid epoxides ha been reviewed recently.1. 8 8 and attention called to the possible need for revision in certain of the structural assignments made by Karrer and hie associates.885... 

Naturally occurring fats contain small amounts of soluble minor consituents pigments (carotenoids, chlorophyll, etc.), sterols (phytosterols in plant fats, cholesterol in animal fats), vitamin A (from carotenes), vitamin D (calciferol), waxes (esters of long-chain alcohols and fatty acids), ethers, and degradation products of fatty acids, proteins, and carbohydrates. Most of these minor compounds are removed in processing, and some are valuable by-products. 

---