Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577, Japan.
East Tokyo Laboratory, Genesis Research Institute, Inc., 717-86 Futamata, Ichikawa, Chiba 272-0001, Japan.
J Agric Food Chem. 2023 Aug 2;71(30):11607-11614. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.3c02387. Epub 2023 Jul 12.
Safety concerns in the food industry have increased the demand for natural food colorants. However, the application ranges of natural blue colorants are insufficient because they are scarce in nature, and the currently available natural blue dyes are limited to water-soluble products. In this study, we investigated a fat-soluble azulene derivative isolated from the mushroom as a potential candidate for a natural blue colorant. We developed its first total synthesis, where the azulene skeleton was constructed from a pyridine derivative and an ethynyl group was converted into an isopropenyl group using zirconium complexes. Moreover, nanoparticles of the azulene derivative were prepared reprecipitation method, and their colorant ability was investigated in aqueous solutions. The new candidate food colorant exhibited a deep-blue color in an organic solvent and aqueous dispersion.
食品安全问题的增加使得人们对天然食用色素的需求增加。然而，由于天然蓝色食用色素的稀缺性，其应用范围有限，目前可用的天然蓝色染料仅限于水溶性产品。在这项研究中，我们研究了一种从蘑菇中分离出来的脂溶性薁衍生物，作为一种潜在的天然蓝色食用色素候选物。我们开发了它的首次全合成，其中薁骨架是由吡啶衍生物构建的，并且使用锆配合物将乙炔基转化为异丙烯基。此外，还通过再沉淀法制备了薁衍生物的纳米粒子，并在水溶液中研究了它们的着色能力。这种新的候选食用色素在有机溶剂和水分散体中呈现深蓝色。
