The Carotenoids and Xanthophylls

The red, orange and yellow pigments that we lump together as the carotenoids and xanthophylls have also piqued the interest of many talented chemists, and can therefore count as many Nobel Prizes as can chlorophyll research as the results of research in this field. There are hundreds of these pigments known today, so we must necessarily confine ourselves to the highlights of this field of research. 

Ironically enough, the discovery of carotene is analogous to the synthesis of mauveine (instead of the sought-for quinine) by W. H. Perkin a German pharmacist named Wackenroder set out to extract an effective anthelminthic from 

Since the pathways by which many of the carotenoids were discovered covers several centuries and is somewhat convoluted, a tabular form for this history is very convenient as well. 

Some observations on the last three entries in Table 7.2 are appropriate here. Willstatter seemed to minimize his work on carotenoids in favor of the recognition of his work on chlorophyll, as can be inferred from the little space that he devotes to the former subject in his memoirs [60], and yet his advances in this area opened the pathway to many more Nobel Prizes than those mentioned here, those of Karrer and Kuhn. 

Upon presenting the Nobel Prize to Karrer, Wilhelm Palmaer, chair of the prize committee at the time, described him as a scientist with the ability to visualize great and important problems as well as their smaller parts and one who in his own unique way approached problems and pursued new ideas by using his own methods [61] . Karrer s methodology has borne much fruit over the decades. The spinoffs from his work on the carotenoids and xanthophylls is still evolving today intense research on vision, vitamins, hormones, metabolic pathways, and enzymes. 

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