Issue 42, 2021

Strategies used by nature to fix the red, purple and blue colours in plants: a physical chemistry approach

Abstract

While identified by the respective flavylium cation, anthocyanins are much more than this molecule. The flavylium cation (generally appearing only at very acidic pH values) is one of the molecules of a complex sequence of pH dependent molecular species reversibly interconnected by different chemical reactions. These species include the red flavylium cation, purple quinoidal base and blue or bluish anionic quinoidal bases. At the common pH of the vacuoles of simpler anthocyanins, the red flavylium cation is present only at very acidic pH values and at moderately acidic pHs there is no significant colour of the purple quinoidal base. Moreover, the blue or bluish anionic quinoidal base appearing around neutral pH values is not stable. Intermolecular (copigmentation) and intramolecular (in acylated anthocyanins) interactions increase the colour hue and yield bathochromic shifts in the absorption bands, permitting to extend the pH domain of the flavylium cation and increase the mole fraction of the quinoidal bases. Metal complexation is another strategy. In particular, the Al3+ cation plays an essential role in the blue colour of hydrangea. The most sophisticated structures are however the metaloanthocyanins, such as the one that gives the blue colour of commelina communis, constituted of six anthocyanins, six flavanones and two metals. In this work we discuss how physical chemical tools are indispensable to account for the chemical behaviour of these complex systems. The experimental procedures and the equations needed to calculate all equilibrium constants of anthocyanins and the consequent pH dependent mole fraction distributions in the absence or presence of copigments are described in detail. Reverse pH jumps monitored by stopped flow have been shown to be an indispensable tool to calculate these parameters.

Graphical abstract: Strategies used by nature to fix the red, purple and blue colours in plants: a physical chemistry approach

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
03 Jūl. 2021
Accepted
28 Sept. 2021
First published
28 Sept. 2021

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2021,23, 24080-24101

Strategies used by nature to fix the red, purple and blue colours in plants: a physical chemistry approach

N. Basílio, J. Mendoza, A. Seco, J. Oliveira, V. de Freitas and F. Pina, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2021, 23, 24080 DOI: 10.1039/D1CP03034E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements