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Evolution of Flavylium-Based Color Systems in Plants: What Physical Chemistry Can Tell Us
Fernando Pina1, Alfonso Alejo-Armijo1, Adelaide Clemente2
1LAQV-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
Abstract:
Anthocyanins are the basis of the color of angiosperms, 3-deoxyanthocyanins and sphagnorubin play the same role in mosses and ferns, and auronidins are responsible for the color in liverworts. In this study, the color system of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (kuromanin) as a representative compound of simpler anthocyanins was fully characterized by stopped flow. This type of anthocyanin cannot confer significant color to plants without intra- or intermolecular interactions, complexation with metals or supramolecular structures as in Commelina communis. The anthocyanin's color system was compared with those of 3-deoxyanthocyanins and riccionidin A, the aglycone of auronidins. The three systems follow the same sequence of chemical reactions, but the respective thermodynamics and kinetics are dramatically different.
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