CAROTENOIDS CONTAINING HYDROXYL GROUPS 



XI 



Source 



Rudbeckia Neumannii 



Sarcina aurantiaca 

 Senecio Doronicum 



Solanum Hendersonii 



Solanum Lycopersicum L. 

 Staphylococcus aureus 

 Vaccinium vitis idaea 

 Viola tricolor 



Zea Mays 



References 

 P. Karrer and A. Notthafft, Helv. chim. Acta 15 

 (1932) 1195. 



E. Chargaff, Compt. rend, igy (1933) 946. 

 P. Karrer and A. Notthafft, Helv. chim. Acta 15 

 (1932) 1195. 



A. WiNTERSTEiN and U. Ehrenberg, Z. physiol. 

 Chem. 207 (1932) 25. 



R. KuHN and C. Grundmann, Ber. 65 (1932) 1880. 

 E. Chargaff, Compt. rend, igj (1933) 946. 

 H. WiLLSTAEDT, Svensk Kemisk Tidskr. 48 (1936 (212). 

 P. Karrer and J. Rutschmann, Helv. chim. Acta 2y 

 (1944) 1684. 



P. Karrer, H. Salomon and H. Wehrli, Helv. chim. 

 Acta 12 (1929) 790. 



TABLE 40 

 zeaxanthin content of various plants 



Preparation 



Zeaxanthin can be prepared either from maize^" or from leaves of physalis 

 cups^^. In physalis, the pigment occurs in the form of the palmitic acid ester, 

 physalien, the preparation of which is described on p. 187. Zeaxanthin is obtained 

 from physalien by saponification. 



3 g of physalien are dissolved in ether and saponified by shaking with 10% 

 methanolic potassium hydroxide at room temperature. By dilution with water, 

 the zeaxanthin is transferred to the ether layer, which is concentrated slightly 

 until the pigment crystallises. For further purification, the zeaxanthin is crystallised 

 once from a mixture of chloroform and ether. The yield is just under 1 g. 



* Formation 



Karrer and Solmssen^^ succeeded in converting a carotenoid with 40 

 carbon atoms into another natural pigment with the same number of carbon 

 atoms by converting rhodoxanthin (p. 221) into zeaxanthin by reduction of 

 the dihydroderivative with aluminium wopropoxide. 

 References p. 214-217. 



