Pigments crocin

Saffron, an extract of flowers of Crocus sativus, contains the water-soluble pigment crocin the digentiobioside of apocarotenic acid, crocetin zeaxanthin, a P-carotene and characteristic flavoring compounds. The yellow color of this pigment is attractive in beverages, cakes, and other bakery products. However, use of this colorant is restricted by its high price. 

Saffron (from Arabic zafaran=to be yellow). The dried, aromatic-smelling flowerheads of the saffron plant Crocus sativus, Iridaceae), indigenous to southern Europe, which contain the yellow pigment crocin (see crocetin) and the bitter principle picrocrocin (saffron bitter, see safranal). Characteristic flavor com-... 

Watanabe, T. et al., Separation and determination of yellow and red Safflower pigments in food by capillary electrophoresis, Biosci. Biotech. Biochem., 61, 1179, 1997. Fekrat, H., The application of crocin and saffron ethanol-extractable components in formulation of health care and beauty care products. Proceedings of International Symposium on Saffron Biology and Biotechnology, Fernandez, J.A. and Abdullaev, R, Eds., Albacete, Spain, 2004, p. 650. 

Peroxy radicals are known to be responsible for the bleaching of carotenoid pigments, such as crocin. Such bleaching can be inhibited by antioxidants.468 492 493 In determining the residual radical scavenging activity of tomato juice, crocin bleaching and the DPPH method gave parallel results 446... 

Annatto is classified as El 60(b). It is extracted from the seeds of the tree Bixa orellana which grows in America, India and East Africa. The extract is a mixture of two pigments, bixin and nor-bixin. Bixin is oil soluble, whereas nor-bixin is water soluble (it is one of the two water soluble carotenes - the other is crocin), and both of the pigments are diapo-carotenoids. Annatto has long been used as a food colouring and also has some uses as a food flavouring. 

Crocin or saffron extracts together with other natural pigments such as berberine, azulen, curcumin, betanin, etc have been used as a hair dye [93]. In a US Patent [94] a scalp treatment composition is described for scalp and hair health and growth containing saffron, among the other plant extracts. 

The coloring principle of saffron, crocin, which was isolated from the hila of Crocus salivas, is the ester of a carotenoid pigment (crocetin), and has the structure 12) ... 

This carboxylic acid carotenoid is the yellow tiobiose. The diester, called crocin, is therefore pigment of saffron. It occurs in plants as a di- water-soluble, ester, i. e. glycoside with the disaccharide gen-... 

Annato is a yellow oil or aqueous alkaline extract of fruit pulp of Raku or Orleans shrubs or brushwood Bixa orellana). The major pigments of annato are bixin (XVIII) and norbixin, both of which give dicarboxylic acids upon hydrolysis. Oleoresin from paprika is a red, oil extract containing about 50 different pigments. The aqueous extract of saffron (more accurately, from the pistils of the flower Crocus sativus) contains crocin (XVII) as its main constituent. It is used for coloring beverages and bakery products. 

The liposoluble nature of these compounds determines, a priori, the type of food in which they can be incorporated to dissolve efficientiy. 3-Carotene is added to fatty foods, such as butter, cheeses, and oils, although other pigments such as bixin and apocarotenals are also employed. Paprika and oleoresins industrially obtained from red pepper are used directly or as ingredient in the manufacture of sauces and meat products. Saffron, which contains crocin as a major pigment (a diester of crocetin with the disaccharide gentiobiose), is used as a hydrosoluble condiment for soups and to color foods and drinks. Other hydrosoluble preparations of 3-carotene and other pigments such as canthaxanthin and apocarotenoids are used to color drinks. Norbixin, a product derived from the saponification of bixin, is hydrosoluble, and used to color ice cream, cereals, and cheese. 

Fig. 87. Crocetin and crocin. Crocin is the yellow pigment of the stigmata of the meadow saffron. R = H crocetin, R = gentiobiose crocin.

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