Abstract
It has been generally supposed that the major red pigment of the root tissue of Beta vulgaris is composed of an anthocyanin nucleus coupled in some way with one or more amino-acids1–4. The other pigments, both red and yellow, are presumably very similar, with only minor variations5. The extreme instability of the compound and the difficulty with which it is obtained in the pure state demonstrate that these suppositions are highly speculative, at best.
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PETERSON, R., JOSLYN, M. Nature of Betanin, the Pigment of Red Beet. Nature 182, 45–46 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/182045a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/182045a0
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