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Turkey is abundant in natural mineral water sources, thanks to its location on the Alpine-Himalayan belt. Natural mineral water is drinking water characterized by its natural mineral, trace elements, and carbon dioxide content. Because of quite insufficient data, the boron content in bottled natural mineral waters in Turkey was analyzed by three different methods and compared: inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry technique, carminic acid, and azomethine-H methods, in this study. The boron levels in mineral waters ranged from a minimum of 0.05 mg/L to a maximum of 8.61 mg/L. It was also safe by the upper limit level estimated by the World Health Organisation. As boron plays a beneficial role in human physiology, consuming natural mineral water may offer a positive contribution to public health by supporting boron intake in our country. The other outcome of our research was that the spectrophotometric carminic acid method can yield results similar to those obtained using the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry technique since the boron level of Turkish mineral water was within the limits level of the carminic acid method. However, the result of the azomethine-H method was found not to be suitable. Cross-sensitivity with other elements in mineral water might have caused this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work concerns the study of colors and dyes identified on archaeological textiles from the Atacama Desert. The different garments and ornaments come from the excavation of two important pre-Columbian cemeteries of the Tarapacá region: Tarapacá-40 attributed to the Formative period (1100 BC–660 AD) and Pica-8 to the Late Intermediate period (900–1450 AD). For the first time, a multi-analytical approach with non-invasive techniques using FORS and SERS was applied on samples of less than 2 cm of length for physicochemical characterization of the raw materials and the dyes employed in the textile production of northern Chile. The fibers are from animal origin. Blue, green, and yellow are identified as indigo, but we cannot discard a mixture with other dyes to vary hue and shade; while carminic acid and alizarin—to a lesser extent—are found on red, orange, and brown samples. This research provides new elements for the discussion about the textile technology developed in this desertic region, its changes, and continuities along the history. Our results are compared to recent findings on neighboring regions from South-Central Andes, to improve the current knowledge and discuss the existence of dyeing textile cultural traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dactylopius opuntiae (Hemiptera: Dactylopiidae) is a key pest of the prickly pear cactus in Mexico where the plant, and its phytophagous community, are native. It is also an introduced pest in Brazil and the Mediterranean basin. Amongst the phytophagous community of prickly pear in Mexico there is also Dactylopius coccus, the cultivated cochineal. This cochineal is used to obtain carminic acid as a natural dye, but it has also been reported as an invasive pest in Ethiopia. The most feasible control option for these insects is biological control, but whether their natural enemies develop well in both species is unknown. The aim of this work was to study the biology of the predator, Laetilia coccidivora (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), when it was fed either D. opuntiae or D. coccus in the laboratory. The predator completed its development on both species. Carminic acid was at higher concentrations in D. coccus (8–25%) than D. opuntiae (2–5%), and feeding on D. coccus had negative effects on larval duration (16.7 vs. 22.0 days), developmental time (36 vs. 43.2 days) and survival rate of the predator (42.5 vs. 92.4%). Fecundity (22.7 vs. 12.9 eggs per female), net reproductive rate (R0 = 10.1 vs. 5.8) and intrinsic rate of increase (rm = 0.064 vs 0.041) were also diminished when L. coccidivora fed on D. coccus, compared with D. opuntiae. We discuss possible reasons for variation in predator fitness when fed on each prey type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural colors particularly animal-based colorants are employed in the field of cosmetics, food, and flavors and also gaining popularity in textiles, due to their soothing nature. In this study, the microwave-assisted extraction of colorant from cochineal insects for dyeing of bio-mordanted silk has been carried out. Acidic, methanolic, and acidified methanol solubilized media were used to extract the natural colorant from cochineal under microwave irradiation for 1–6 min. Bio-mordants have been employed at optimized conditions to make the process greener and sustainable. It is found that acid solubilized extract of pH 4, employed at 55 °C for 55 min containing 5 g/100 mL of Glauber's salt as exhausting agent has given high color strength onto microwave-treated silk fabric. Suggested ISO standards for colorfastness have revealed that bio-mordants have given excellent color depth and excellent rating of fastness properties, compared with chemical mordants used. It is found that microwave treatment has not only improved the dyeing behavior of colorant extracted from cochineal in acid solubilized medium but also enhanced the color characteristics onto bio-mordanted silk fabric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The boron content was determined in 42 different foods consumed in Istanbul, Turkey. Eleven species of fruit, ten species of vegetable, eight species of food of animal origin, four species of grain, two species of nuts, two species of legume, and five other kinds of foods were included to this study. They were analyzed by two methods: Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) technique and carminic acid assay, and the results of two methods were also compared. Boron concentration in foods ranged between 0.06-37.2 mg/kg. Nuts had the highest boron content while foods of animal origin had the lowest. A strong correlation was found between the results of the carminic acid assay and the ICP-MS technique (p = 0.0001, Pearson correlation coefficient: r = 0.956). Bland Altman analysis also supported this correlation. ICP-MS is one of the most common, reliable, and powerful method for boron determination. The results of our study show that spectrophotometric carminic acid assay can provide similar results to ICP-MS, and the boron content in food materials can be also determined by spectrophotometric method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a colorimetric chemosensor for the selective and sensitive detection of Cys based on the complex (CA-2Pb) between a commercially available natural organic dye, carminic acid (CA) and Pb in pure aqueous solution at physiological pH. The addition of Cys to the CA-2Pb solution resulted in a distinct color change from purple to red together with a remarkable absorption spectral change by the restoration of CA through a displacement mechanism with formation of the Cys-Pb complex, whereas other amino acids and glutathione induce no or minimal spectral and color changes. Moreover, the other amino acids and GSH do not affect the detection ability of CA-2Pb for Cys. The reversibility even through several cycles was established for practical applications. The results indicate that CA-2Pb may be useful as a potential colorimetric and naked-eye chemosensor for Cys over Hcy and GSH in aqueous solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carminic acid (CA), a member of natural dyes, is well known for its good stability in a variety of foods such as candies, drinks, and fruits. However, it has never been authorized as a food additive in meat products. In order to detect CA with high sensitivity and specificity, an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ic-ELISA) has been developed. A high-titer polyclonal antibody (Pab) against CA was obtained after the immunization of New Zealand white rabbits with conjugate of CA coupling with BSA. Several physicochemical factors including pH value, ionic strength, and organic solvent were tested, and it was observed that the ELISA working solution was pH 7.4 PBS buffer containing 50 mmol L Na. Under the optimal conditions, 50% inhibitive concentration (IC) of CA was 95.2 ng mL and the limit of detection (LOD) was 1 ng mL. Cross-reactivity of the Pab toward carmine was 108.7%, and no response was found with other four edible colorants. The spiked meat samples were detected by ic-ELISA with intra- and inter-assay recovery ranges of 79.1-103.1 and 81.6-98.8%, respectively. Finally, the results for the fortified food samples were further confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a high correlation coefficient of 0.927, which demonstrated that the method in the study was sensitive enough for the quantification of CA in meat products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commercially available natural organic dye, carminic acid (CA), an anthraquinone derivative bearing hydroxyl and carboxyl groups as recognition sites was found to be a colorimetric probe for Pb in perfect aqueous solution under neutral conditions with specific selectivity and high sensitivity. Upon addition of Pb, the absorption maximum of CA showed a large red shift, and the resulted color change from red to purple could be easily identified even by the naked eye. The chemical stoichiometric ratio between CA and Pb was determined to be 1:2 through Job plot, Pb titration, and kinetic experiments. Moreover, other environmental relevant metal ions induced no or minimal spectral and color changes. The reversibility of Pb to CA with EDTA even through several cycles was established for practical applications. The results indicated that CA can be a good candidate for simple, convenient and reversible colorimetric detection of Pb in aqueous solution even though it was hard to be applied to determine Pb on the water testing by US EPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Color change in artworks has been commented on for centuries. Fading of watercolor pigments is a notable alteration. Pigments based on carminic acid are among those particularly prone to color loss, but the mechanism and factors are not well understood. Results: We painted out three pigments prepared from the aqueous extract of carminic acid (CA) from Dactylopius coccus: the uncomplexed, and aluminium- and tin-complexed lakes. These were applied in a 2% gum Arabic solution to papers that were acidic, neutral or alkaline pH and exposed to accelerated light aging in a weatherometer. The comparative rate of fading was dependent on the complexation and on the pH of the substrate. On alkaline paper, the Al complex was least light stable, on neutral paper the three colorants responded similarly, and on acidic paper the tin complex was the least light stable. This is discussed in light of the published information on reactions and mechanism of color loss of CA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of synthetic dyes for laccase induction in vivo has been scarcely explored. We characterized the effect of adding different synthetic dyes to liquid cultures of Pycnoporus sanguineus on laccase production. We found that carminic acid (CA) can induce 722 % and alizarin yellow 317 % more laccase than control does, and they promoted better fungal biomass development in liquid cultures. Aniline blue and crystal violet did not show such positive effect. CA and alizarin yellow were degraded up to 95 % during P. sanguineus culturing (12 days). With this basis, CA was selected as the best inducer and used to evaluate the induction of laccase on solid-state fermentation (SSF), using sugarcane bagasse (SCB) as substrate, in an attempt to reach selective delignification. We found that laccase induction occurred in SSF, and a slight inhibition of cellulase production was observed when CA was added to the substrate; also, a transformation of SCB under SSF was followed by the C cross polarization magic angle spinning (CPMAS) solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Results showed that P. sanguineus can selectively delignify SCB, decreasing aromatic C compounds by 32.67 % in 16 days; O-alkyl C region (polysaccharides) was degraded less than 2 %; delignification values were not correlated with laccase activities. Cellulose-crystallinity index was increased by 27.24 % in absence of CA and 15.94 % when 0.01 mM of CA was added to SCB; this dye also inhibits the production of fungal biomass in SSF (measured as alkyl C gain). We conclude that CA is a good inducer of laccase in liquid media, and that P. sanguineus is a fungus with high potential for biomass delignification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A chemiluminescence (CL) method is described for the determination of carminic acid. In this method, CL light emission generated during oxidation of Ru(phen) by Ce(IV) in sulfuric acid medium was greatly enhanced in the presence of carminic acid. By using the recommended procedure, the calibration graphs were linear from 0.2 to 2.0 μg mL ( r = 0.9974) and from 2.0 to 100 μg mL ( r = 0.9962). The limit of detection was 0.17 μg mL. The percent of relative standard deviation obtained for 5 and 20 μg mL of carminic acid ( n = 11) was 4.3 and 4.5 %, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the assay of carminic acid in juice, syrup, drink, jelly powder, and plasma samples, and the results were in accordance with those obtained with a reference method. The analytical recoveries obtained by applying the method to the analysis of samples ranged from 91.7 to 110.5 % (mean 101.0 %). The sampling rate for analysis was 30 samples per hour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report for the first time charge-transfer complex formation at the interface of carminic acid and cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles. The complex formation was confirmed by ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) and fluorescence emission spectroscopy. Cadmium sulfide nanoparticles were synthesized by the wet chemical method and characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Carminic acid, in different concentrations, was chemisorbed on the surface of CdS nanoparticles. Grafting of carminic acid on CdS was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Energy levels of the highest occupied molecular orbitals and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO) of both carminic acid and CdS nanoparticles matched well for the injection of electron from LUMO of carminic acid to the conduction band of cadmium sulfide. The photoactive nanohybrid material was used in dye-sensitized solar cells. The efficiency of carminic acid functionalized CdS nanoparticles was found to be double the value obtained for the reference device and remained constant over a certain concentration range owing to the complex formation at the interface. However, raising the concentration of carminic acid beyond 2.5 × 10 M resulted in a decrease in efficiency. This was ascribed to charge recombination due to the presence of ungrafted carminic acid molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultures of the anamorphic fungus Bjerkandera adusta CCBAS 930 decolorizing, in stationary cultures, 0.01 % solutions of carminic acid and Poly R-478, were characterised by a strong increase in the activity of the horseradish peroxidase (HRP-like) and manganese-dependent peroxidase (MnP) at a low activity of lignin peroxidase. Genotypically modified mutants of B. adusta CCBAS 930: 930-5 and 930-14, with total or partial loss of decolorization capabilities relative to anthraquinonic dyes, showed inhibition of the activity of HRP-like peroxidase and MnP. Whereas, compared to the parental strain, in the mutant cultures there was an increase in the activity of lignin peroxidase and laccase. The paper presents a discussion of the role of the studied enzymatic activities in the process of decolorization of anthraquinonic dyes by the strain B. adusta CCBAS 930. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dissociation constants of carminic acid (7-D-glucopyronosyl-3,5,6,8-tetra- hydroxy-1-methyl-9,10-dioxo-anthracene-2-carboxylic acid) (CA), together with the stability constants of its Cu(II), Zn(II), Ni(II), Co(II) and Hg(II) complexes, were studied potentiometrically in aqueous medium at 25.0 (1) °C, and at the ionic background of 0.1 mol⋅dm of NaCl, and determined with the SUPERQUAD computer program. It has been observed that carminic acid has five dissociation constants, and for HL their values are 3.39 (7), 5.78 (7), 8.35 (7), 10.27 (7), and 11.51 (7). This ligand behaves as a bi-dentate ligand, and the carboxyl and the ortho hydroxy groups of the ligand coordinate to the metal ions. Various metal complexes were produced in solution under the experimental conditions, for each metal ion used, including hydrolyzed species. The species distribution curves of the complexes formed in the solution were calculated and reviewed. The stability of the complexes was found to follow the order: Cu(II) > Zn(II) > Ni(II) > Co(II) > Hg(II). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carmine extracted from cochineal insects is one of the most used natural colorings for beverages and other foods. Its active ingredient is carminic acid (7-β-D-glucopyranosyl-9,10-dihydro-3,5,6,8-tetrahydroxy-1-methyl-9,10-dioxo-2-anthracenecarboxylic acid). This work describes a rapid HPLC determination of carminic acid and compares diode array and fluorescence detections for quantification. Samples with higher protein levels, such as milk and yogurt, are first treated with 1 mL of 8 M NH4OH (5 min), the pH is reduced to 2 with 6 M HCl before centrifugation, the supernatant is then filtered and injected into the chromatograph. Low protein samples are simply filtered before injection. The separations were performed with a LiChroCART RP18 column using a mixture of acetonitrile and formic acid as mobile phase. The optimized conditions permit baseline quantification of the carminic acid even in the presence of other coloring agents. The sampling and analytical procedures are considerably faster than those of the literature and present excellent recuperation, selectivity, accuracy and precision. The method was applied to analysis of several yogurts and beverages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coloured complex formed between Ga(III) and carminic acid (CA) was utilized for developing a spectrophotometric method of gallium determination in the presence of the cationic surfactant hexadecylpyridinium chloride (HDPC), which caused a bathochromic shift in the absorption spectrum and an increase in extinction. The Ga(III)∶: CA molar ratio was 1∶4 in the presence of HDPC. The complex exhibited a molar absorptivity of 3.0 × 104 dm3 mol−1 cm−1 at 570 nm in an aqeous solution of pH 4.O. Beer's law was obeyed between 2.0 × 10−6−2.0 × 10−5 M Ga(III), and the relative standard deviation for gallium analysis was 1.4%. Most ions did not interfere, with a few exceptions which could be masked with either diethyldithiocarbamate, ascorbic acid, thioglycollic acid or fluoride. The developed method was successfully applied without any preliminary separation to gallium determination in gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductor materials, and with prior extraction in a geostandard tonalite sample containing very high proportions of Fe(III) and Al(III). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The color-forming reactions of molybdenum(VI) and vanadium(IV) with carminic acid (CA) in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were used in the flow-injection determination of these metals. The micellar medium enhances the spectrophotometric features of the Mo(VI)-CA and V(IV)-CA binary complexes, and the higher solubility of these complexes when the CTAB concentration is above critical micelle concentration permits the easy application of flow-injection systems. Under the optimum conditions, linear calibration graphs were obtained from 0.76 to 28.8 μg/ml for molybdenum and from 0.30 to 9.1 μg/ml for vanadium. The detection limits were 0.33 and 0.16 μg/ml for molybdenum and vanadium, respectively. The selectivity of the method was investigated and the procedure was successfully applied to the determination of molybdenum in steels and pharmaceuticals and of vanadium in petroleum products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Andean church of San Andrés de Pachama is located in the highland of the northernmost of Chile, near the limit with Bolivia and next to the Ruta de la Plata. This commercial route contributed in the past to the transport and commerce of various raw materials, such as silver, from the Andean mountains region to the Pacific Ocean coast and then to the European market. The walls inside the church are decorated with paintings from the end of the eighteenth century that reproduce religious motivs together with flowers, fruits, and birds. In this study, micro samples taken from one of the mural paintings have been analysed to acquire information on the artistic materials and the painting technique previous to the restoration of the paintings. Analysis by micro-Raman spectroscopy complemented with scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection allowed the identification of orpiment, vermilion, indigo, smalt, antlerite, hematite, carmine lake, and wood charcoal as pigments as well as gypsum as the ground layer. Lipidic and proteinaceous materials extracted from the microsamples were identified by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and indicated the use of a mixture of egg and siccative oil as binders and a secco painting technique involving animal glue as the plaster primer. Smalt and the prized cochineal lake are reported for the first time in an Andean colonial mural painting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]