The study on the red pigments in outer skins of Cephalopoda

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26350116
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Eating habits
• Research Institution: Kyoritsu Women's University
• Principal Investigator: ITO YUSAI 共立女子大学, 家政学部, 准教授 (40435706)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: オンモクローム / 頭足類 / スルメイカ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The nanostructured color granules in outer skins of cephalopoda such as squids and octopus contains variety of pigments, which are candidates of new natural food dye. Though, the pigments of cephalopoda are known to be ommochrome type compounds, there is few report about the chemical nature of ommochrome pigments of cephalopoda.
Therefore, we extracted the pigments from the raw skins of Japanese flying squid and invented the HPLC method to analyse all pigments. As a result, the extract contained yellow, red, and purple pigments in the extract. We purified the purple pigment by sequential chromatography. The mass analysis of the purple pigment strongly suggested that the molecular formula of the pigment contained sulfur atoms.

Free Research Field

天然物化学