15 



TARAXANTHIN 



321 



Source 

 a) In blossoms." 

 Helianthus annuus 

 Impatiens noli tangere 



Leontodon autumnalis 

 Ranunculus acer 



Taraxacum officinale 

 T us silage Far far a 



Ulex europaeus 



b) In hips : 

 Rosa canina 



Rosa damascena Mill. 

 Rosa rubiginosa 



c) In algae : 



Cladophora Sauteri 



Nitella opaca 

 Oedogonium 

 Rhodymenia palmata 



d) In liver: 

 (Lophius piscatorius) 



TABLE 56 



OCCURRENCE OF TARAXANTHIN* 



Literature references 



L. Zechmeister and P. Tuzson, Ber. by (1934) 170. 



R. KuHN and E. Lederer, Z. physiol. Chem. 213 



(1932) 188. 



do. 



R. KuHN and H. Brockmann, Z. physiol. Chem. 213 



(1932) 192. — P. Karrer, E. Jucker, J. Rutsch- 



MANN and K. Steinlin, Helv. chim. Acta 28 (1945) 



1146. 



R. Kuhn and E. Lederer, Z. physiol. Chem. 200 



(1931) 108. 



P. Karrer and R. More, Helv. chim. Acta 15 (1932) 



863. 



K. ScHON, Biochem. J. 30 (1936) 1960. 



R. Kuhn and C. Grundmann, Ber. 67 (1934) 339, 1133. 



do. 



do. 



I. M. Heilbron, E: G. Parry and R. F. Phipers, 



Biochem. J. 29 (1935) 1376. 



do. 



do. 



do. 



N. A. Sorensen, Chem. Centr. 1934, II, 682. — 

 I. M. Heilbron and coworkers, Biochem. J. 29 (1935) 

 1379. 



Preparatiow''^ 



The dried and finely ground dandelion blossoms are extracted with a mixture 

 of acetone and petroleum ether (1:1) at room temperature. The pigment is trans- 

 ferred to the petroleum ether layer by addition of water, and saponified with 

 ethanolic potassium hydroxide. The free phytoxanthins are dissolved in methanol, 

 the solution is covered with a layer of petroleum ether, and the pigments are 

 precipitated by very careful addition of water. The pigments are crystallised 

 from methanol in order to remove colourless impurities. In this way about 

 400 mg of fairly pure phytoxanthin are obtained from 15,000 dandelion blossoms 

 (without cups). The phytoxanthins are separated bv chromatographic adsorption 

 on calcium carbonate from a mixture of benzene and petrol. Taraxanthin is ad- 

 According to E. Lederer, Bull. Soc. Chim. biol. 20 (1938) 554 the skins of various 

 species of fish contain taraxanthin. These findings require further confirmation. 



References p. 341-343. 

 Carotenoids 21 



