y-CAROTENE 



Solvent: Absorption ynaxima: 



Carbon disulphide 501 486.5 m/i 



Benzene 483.5 453.5 m/i 



Chloroform 482.5 452.5 m/i 



Petroleum ether 470.5 442.5 m^ 



Ethanol 471 443 m/^ 



i6i 



A o. I % solution of the pigment in benzene shows no optical rotation in a 

 10 cm tube. Dihydro-a-carotene is entirely epiphasic in the partition test. 



5. y-CAROTENE C40H56 



History 



1933 KuHN and Brockmann discover a third carotene-isomer, y-carotene, by 

 means of chromatographic adsorption analysis*' i'^. They elucidate the 

 constitution of the new pigment. 



Occurrence 



y-Carotene is one of the rarest carotenoids. In carotene from carrots it 

 occurs only to the extent of about o.i % of /^-carotene. 



Source 

 Aleuria aurantiaca 



Allomyces 



Bacillus Lombardo Pelle- 

 grini, Bacillus Grasberger 



Butia capitata 



Carotene from carrots 

 Chara ceratophylla Wallr. 



Chrysemis scripta elegans 

 (Japanese tortoise) 



TABLE 37 



OCCURRENCE OF y-CAROTENE 



References 

 E. Lederer, Cham. Centr. igsg, I, 2991. Bl. Soc. Chim. 

 biol. 20 (1938) 611. 



R. Emerson and D. L. Fox, Pvoc. Roy. Soc. (London) 

 (B) 128 (1940) 275. 



E. Chargaff and E. Lederer, Chem. Centr. 1936, I, 



3159. 



L. Zechmeister and W. A. Schroeder, /. Am. Chem. 



Soc. 64 (1942) 1173. 



R. KuHN and H. Brockmann, Ber. 66 (1933) 407. 



P. Karrer, W. Fatzer, M. Favarger and E. Jucker, 



Helv. chim. Acta 26 (1943) 2121. 



E. Lederer, Chem. Centr. 1939, I, 2990. — Bl. Soc. 

 Chim. biol. 20 (1938) 554. 



V. N. LuBiMENKO observed a pigment with properties intermediate to those of 

 lycopene and ^-carotene in fruit of the Gonocaryum species. This was probably y-carotene 

 {Rev. gen. bat. 25 (1914) 474). A. Winterstein isolated impure y-carotene from Gonocaryum 

 pyriforme (Z. physiol. Chem. 215 (1933) 51), and shortly afterwards established the identity 

 of this pigment with the y-carotene of R. Kuhn and H. Brockmann (Z. physiol. Chem. 

 219 (1933) 249). 

 References p. 165-ijo. 



Carotenoids ii 



