An experimental investigation of coloring matter in flowers of vinca major

• Main Author: Gulbenk, Alin Haykohi
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1963
• Subjects: Botanical chemistry; Plant pigments; Anthocyanins; Vinca; Chemistry
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/1535; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2534&context=uop_etds

Even though early man did not know the nature of coloring matter in flowers, he used the coloring matter as dye for centuries. There are a variety of reasons for the interest of chemists in natural and artificial coloring matters. One of these is the color pleasure, anothe1· is the commercial importance. The visible color facilitates the experimental work in the search for methods if separation, purification and determination of organic structures. Search for the knowledge of coloring matter goes far back in history. Man has dyed his textiles with the help of mordants from the most ancient times up to the time of Perkin's discovery of mauve. Then a new era in dyestuff chemistry commenced. In the first half of the nineteenth century with the rise and development of the study of Organic chemistry much attention was directed to the extraction and characterization of pure coloring matters from natural sources .... usually the bark, leaves, fruits. or sap of trees or plants. During the twentieth century -- and just a little before that--great progress has been made in the synthesis of many typical natural coloring matters and the improved technique and novel synthetical methods which will bear upon the general progress of chemistry. This research was done with the purpose of isolating and identifying the coloring matter in the flowers of Vinca Major, with the common name of periwinkle. This was done by extracting the pigment of the flowers with methanol, amyl alcohol, and crystallizing the pigment as a chloride. For this pigment, solubility, color reactions, spectra and other physical properties were obtained.