522 VI. CAROTENOIDS AND RELATED COMPOUNDS 



anagyroides (golden chain) and Kerria japonica var. pleni flora (double 

 Japanese kerria) . ^'^'' Petrie^"* reported the presence of /3-carotene in the 

 blossoms of four varieties of acacia, the Australian golden wattles: Acacia 

 decurrens var. mollis (black-green wattle), A. discolor' (sunshine wattle), 

 A. linifolia (flax-leaf acacia), and A. longijolia (Sydney green wattle). 



Many of the red berries contain large amounts of j8-carotene. This is the 

 case with those of the narrow-leaf firethorn {Pyracaniha angusti folia), in 

 which it occurs in conjunction with the unusual pigment pro-7-caro- 

 tene^"^'"" Karrer and Rutschmann'^^ have also reported a large content 

 of 7-carotene in another species of pyracantha, the scarlet firethorn {Pyra- 

 caniha coccinia), along with two varieties of 7-carotene which were not 

 more completely identified. These same workers failed to detect appreci- 

 able amounts of /3-carotene in one species of cotoneaster {Cotoneaster 

 occidentalis) . In the ripe seeds of the Euonymus europaeus L., Celastraceae 

 (spindle tree), the main finding is the unesterified zeaxanthin.^^-'^^' In the 

 Euonymus foriunei Rehd., which is commonly termed the "winter-creeper 

 euonymus" (or evonymus), zeaxanthin is the principal polyene; however, 

 prolycopene and pro-7-carotene are also present, in addition to jS-carotene.^'"* 

 Le Rosen and Zechmeister"* reported that in the case of the red berries of 

 Celastrus scandens L., commonly known as the "false bitter-sweet," /3- 

 carotene occurred to the extent of only 3% of the total carotenoid pigments, 

 while an ester of zeaxanthin was found in the amount of 80% of the polyenes, 

 and another unusual carotenol which was named celaxanthin accounted for 

 an additional 15% of the pigment. Both a- and /3-carotene have been iso- 

 lated from mountain ash berries, or rowanberries (Sorbus aucuparia)"'*^ 

 and from the fruit of the rugosa rose (Rosa rugosa Thumb.),"® in association 

 with 7-carotene, lycopene, and rubixanthin. 



A number of fruits contain /3-carotene. Some of these are listed in Table 

 2. 



The paprika has been shown by Kuhn and Lederer*^ to contain no a- 

 carotene but only /3-carotene. In the case of another fruit — the water- 

 melon — although jS-carotene was found to make up 0.46 mg. of the 6.6 mg. 

 of pigment isolated per kilogram of the fresh fruit pulp, lycopene was the 



10^ P. Karrer and E. Jucker, Helv. Chim. Acta, 29, 1539-1544 (1946). 



108 J. M. Petrie, Biochem. J., 18, 957-964 (1924). 



108 L. Zechmeister and W. A. Schioeder, J. Biol. Chem., lU, 315-320 (1942). 



"» L. Zechmeister and J. H. Pinckard, J. Am. Chem. Soc, 6.9, 1930-1935 (1947). 



1" P. Karrer and J. Rutsc-hmann, Heir. Chim. Acta, 28, 1528-1529 (1945). 



1" L. Zechmeister and K. Szildrd, Z. physiol. Chem., 190, 67-71 (1930). 



1" L. Zechmeister and P. Tuzson, Z. phifsiol. Chem., 196, 199-200 (1931). 



1" L. Zechmeister and R. B. Escue, J. Biol. Chem., 144, 321-323 (1942). 



115 A. L. Le Rosen and L. Zechmeister, .4rc/t, Biochem., 1, 17-26 (1942-1943). 



ii« H. Willstaedt, Svensk. Kern. Tid., 47, 112-114 (1935); Chem. Abst., 29, 6276 (1935). 



