Flavylium compounds are versatile molecules that comprise anthocyanins, the ubiquitous colorants used by Nature to confer colour to most flowers and fruits. They have found a wide range of applications in human technology, from the millenary colour paints described by the Roman architect Vitruvius, to their use as food additives, combining colour and antioxidant effects, and even as light absorbers in solar cells aiming at a greener solar energy conversion. Their rich complexity derives in part from their ability to switch between a variety of species (flavylium cations, neutral quinoidal bases, hemiketals and chalcones, and negatively charged phenolates) by means of external stimuli, such as pH, temperature and light. This critical review describes (i) the historical advancements in the understanding of the equilibria of their chemical reaction networks; (ii) their thermodynamics and kinetics; (iii) the mechanisms underlying their colour development, such as co-pigmentation and host-guest interactions; (iv) the photophysics and photochemistry that lead to photochromism; and (v) applications in solar cells, models for optical memories, photochromic soft materials such as ionic liquids and gels, and their properties in solid state materials (274 references).

A comprehensive spectroscopic and photophysical study of the keto and leuco forms of indigo and three other ring-substituted derivatives in solution was performed. The characterization involves absorption, fluorescence, and triplet-triplet absorption spectra, making it possible to obtain the quantum yields for fluorescence (φ F ), singlet-triplet intersystem crossing (φ ISC ), internal conversion (φ IC ), and lifetimes for fluorescence (τ F ) and triplet decay (τ T ). For the case of the keto forms, pulse radiolysis experiments have revealed the existence of a triplet acceptor (from energy transfer from different donors) for the indigo, purple, and indirubin compounds. It is shown that with the keto form the major deactivation pathway involves internal conversion from the lowest singlet excited state to the ground state whereas with the leuco form there is competition between internal conversion, triplet formation, and fluorescence deactivation processes. Furthermore, leuco forms present much higher Stokes shifts compared with keto ones, suggesting an excitedstate geometry different from the ground-state geometry, possibly involving rotational photoisomerization.

This work introduces the complementary use of μ‐Raman and μ‐Fourier transform infrared (IR) spectroscopy for the detection of specific carbon chains and cations for the identification of metal carboxylates within oil paint microsamples. Metal carboxylates (metal soaps) form naturally when free fatty acids react with metal cations and may also be found as additives or degradation products. Twenty‐two metal carboxylates were synthesised, and their spectra assembled in a reference database. Metal salts of cations commonly present in oil paintings were used, including lead, zinc, calcium, cadmium, copper and manganese. The fatty acids selected were the saturated acids palmitic (C16 : 0) and stearic (C18 : 0) and the polyunsaturated oleic acid (C18 : 1). Azelaic acid (C9 diacid), a product resulting from autoxidation of polyunsaturated acids, was also included. Metal carboxylates were characterised by Raman and IR spectroscopy, and their structures were confirmed by X‐ray diffraction. Raman and IR spectroscopy proved to be complementary techniques for a full identification of the metal carboxylates in complex aged paint. Raman enables the differentiation of the carbon chain length in the C–C stretching region (1120–1040 cm−1), and IR distinguishes the metal cation in the COO− stretching absorption region (1650–1380 cm−1). Principal component analysis was applied to the spectra in order to facilitate a fast and accurate method to discriminate between the different metal carboxylates and to aide in their identification. Finally, spectra from case studies were successfully projected in the principal component analysis models built, enabling a higher confidence level for the identification of copper palmitate and copper azelate in two 19th‐century Portuguese oil paintings. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.