Porphyrin pigments

Porphyrins and chlorophylls are the most widespread natural pigments. They are associated with the energy-converting processes of respiration and photosynthesis in living organisms, and the synthesis of specific porphyrin derivatives is often motivated by the desire to perform similar processes in the test tube. The structurally and biosynthetically related corrins (e.g. vitamin B,j) catalyze alkylations and rearrangements of carbon skeletons via organocobalt intermediates. The biosyntheses of these chromophores are also of topical interest. 

Green coloration, present in many vegetable oils, poses a particular problem in oil extracted from immature or damaged soybeans. Chlorophyll is the compound responsible for this defect. StmcturaHy, chlorophyll is composed of a porphyrin ring system, in which magnesium is the central metal atom, and a phytol side chain which imparts a hydrophobic character to the stmcture. Conventional bleaching clays are not as effective for removal of chlorophylls as for red pigments, and specialized acid-activated adsorbents or carbon are required. 

Condensed Pyrroles. Pyrroles can be condensed to compounds containing two, three, or four pyrrole nuclei. These are important ia synthetic routes to the tetrapyrroHc porphyrins, corroles, and bile pigments and to the tripyrroHc prodigiosias. The pyrrole nuclei are joiaed by either a one-carbon fragment or direct pyrrole—pyrrole bond. 

TCDD is the most potent inducer of chloracne. This has been well known since the accident in Seveso, Italy, in 1976 in which large amounts of TCDD were distributed in the environment subsequent to an explosion in a factory that produced a chlorophenoxy herbicide, 2,4,5-T. TCDD is an impurity produced during the production of 2,4,5-T. The most common long-term effect of TCDD exposure was chloracne. Exposed individuals also suffered increased excretion of porphyrins, hyper-pigmentation, central nervous system effects, and liver damage and increased risk of cancer was a long-term consequence of the exposure. In addition to TCDD, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans, and polychloronaphthalens cause chloracne as well as other effects typical of TCDD. 7i... 

This IS used for synthesis of porphobilinogen fEq 10 24 Porphobilinogen is the key building block in the biosynthesis of pigments of life such as porphyrins, heme, and vitamin Interestmg application of porphobdiogen to synthesis of immunocomponents for the measurement of lead fPb by fluorescence polarizadon Immunoassay has been reported "... 

The synthesis of porphyrins from monopyrrolic, dipyrrolic, tripyrrolic and tctrapyrrolic precursors requires, even for an experienced porphyrin chemist, a substantial amount of time and effort to accomplish. As an alternative to these total synthetic routes, nature provides a source of prefabricated porphyrins. Among the several porphyrins which can be isolated from natural material,s the red blood pigment heme, protoporphyrin dimethyl ester81 b and hemato-porphyrin, both derived from heme, are the only compounds which can be obtained in sufficient amounts. Heme is available in almost unlimited amounts from slaughter-house waste. From 1 L of blood ca. 1 g of heme can be isolated.81 b Currently, heme is offered commercially by chemical retailers at a relatively low price so that is cheaper to buy hemin than to perform a self-isolation in the laboratory. 

Chlorophyll a, the green photosynthesis pigment, is the prototype of the chlorin (2,3-dihydro-porphyrin) class of products. It was first isolated by Willstatter1 at the turn of the century. The common structural unit in this class is the chlorin framework named after chlorophyll. The chromophore with a partially saturated pyrrole ring, which is formally derived from the completely unsaturated porphyrin, is less symmetric than the latter and systematically named according to IUPAC nomenclature as 2,3-dihydroporphyrin. 

The reduced symmetry of the chromophore, which still contains 187t-electrons and is therefore an aromatic system, influences the electronic spectrum which shows a bathochromic shift and a higher molar extinction coefficient of the long-wavelength absorption bands compared to the porphyrin, so that the photophysical properties of the chlorins resulting from this structural alteration render them naturally suitable as pigments for photosynthesis and also make them of interest in medical applications, e.g. photodynamic tumor therapy (PDT).2... 

The modification of porphyrins leading to isobacteriochlorins by C —C-bond formation is important to obtain a wide range of structurally different isobacteriochlorins which can then be further transformed. Protoporphyrin, deutoroporphyrin and hematoporphyrin (readily accessible from red blood pigment) are interesting and useful starting materials in the synthesis of isobacteriochlorins. 

Hemozoin, also known as malaria pigment, is, in teims of its chemical composition, identical to (3-hematin. Hemozoin is formed as a crystallization product of heme under the acidic conditions present in the food vacuole of malarial parasites. In the crystal, the heme molecules are linked into dimers through reciprocal iron-carboxylate bonds to one of the propionate side chains of each porphyrin. The dimers form chains linked by hydrogen bonds. 

The biochemistry of the porphyrins and of the bile pigments is presented in this chapter. These topics are closely related, because heme is synthesized from porphyrins and iron, and the products of degradation of heme are the bile pigments and iron. 

The spontaneous and occasional regreening of certain green plants during storage was first noticed more than 50 years ago. The pigmentation related to the original color was assumed to arise from a stable complex formation between the porphyrin... 

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)... 

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