Chromatography for Plant Pigments
Chromatography For Plant Pigments by Anchrom Lab | Sep 1, 2022 How chromatography is used to study plant pigments ? Words ‘Plant pigments’ and ‘chromatography’ reminds us of the beginning of chromatographic science. A Russian Botanist ‘Mikhail Tsvet’ invented chromatography in 19 th century during his research on separation of plant pigments. Tsvet had managed to separate a mixture of plant pigments, including chlorophyll, on a column packed with finely ground calcium carbonate, using petroleum ether as the mobile phase. Natural pigments such as chlorophylls, chlorophyll derivatives, xanthophylls, carotenoids, anthocyanins, betacyanin’s are abundant in plants or plant derived products. Plant parts such as coloured flowers and fruits are because of carotenoids, flavonoids, anthocyanins or betalains. There are two main groups of betalains, the red-violet betacyanins and the yellow betaxanthins. Anthocyanins can be extracted by using solvent like methanol and often acid is added w