More information on the question about the mysterious blue-green
pigment from spinach.
The spinach is extracted with acetone.
TLC coating: silica gel
Solvent system: petroleum ether/diethyl ether/acetone 8:3:2.
Normally in this system, beta-carotene is near the front, the chlorophylls
are a bit over halfway up, and the xanthophylls are separated in the bottom
half. The mystery pigment (I'm sure I've heard a name for it before, but
it currently escapes me) runs down near the bottom of the xanthophyll
distribution. To me it looks blue; the students thought it looked aqua.
What can it be?
Kathy Schmid
Butler University
Indianapolis, IN 46208
schmid at butler.edu
