Betanin (betanidin 5-O-β-D-glucoside) is a water-soluble plant pigment used as a color additive in food, drugs and cosmetic products. Despite its sensitivity to light and heat, betanin maintains appreciable tinctorial strength in low acidic and neutral conditions, where the color of other plant pigments, such as anthocyanins, quickly fades. However, betanin is an iminium natural product that experiences acid- and base-catalyzed hydrolysis to form the fairly stable betalamic acid and cyclo-DOPA-5-O-β-D-glucoside. Here, we show that the decomposition of betanin in aqueous phosphate solution pH 2-11 is subject to general base catalysis by hydrogen phosphate ion and intramolecular general acid and base catalysis, providing new insights on the mechanism of betanin hydrolysis. UV/Vis absorption spectrophotometry, H NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry were used to investigate product formation. Furthermore, theoretical calculations support the hypothesis that the nitrogen atom of the tetrahydropyridine ring of betanin is doubly protonated, as observed for structurally simpler amino dicarboxylic acids. Our results contribute to the study of betanin and other pigments belonging to the class of betalains and to deepen the knowledge on the chemical properties of imino acids as well as on iminium-catalyzed modifications of carbonyl compounds in water.
Low frequency Raman spectra of ionic liquids have been obtained as a function of pressure up to ca. 4.0 GPa at room temperature and as a function of temperature along the supercooled liquid and glassy state at atmospheric pressure. Intermolecular vibrations are observed at ~20, ~70, and ~100 cm(-1) at room temperature in ionic liquids based on 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium cations. The component at ~100 cm(-1) is assigned to librational motion of the imidazolium ring because it is absent in non-aromatic ionic liquids. There is a correspondence between the position of intermolecular vibrational modes in the normal liquid state and the spectral features that the Raman spectra exhibit after partial crystallization of samples at low temperatures or high pressures. The pressure-induced frequency shift of the librational mode is larger than the other two components that exhibit similar frequency shifts. The lowest frequency vibration observed in a glassy state corresponds to the boson peak observed in light and neutron scattering spectra of glass-formers. The frequency of the boson peak is not dependent on the length scale of polar∕non-polar heterogeneity of ionic liquids, it depends instead on the strength of anion-cation interaction. As long as the boson peak is assigned to a mixing between localized modes and transverse acoustic excitations of high wavevectors, it is proposed that the other component observed in Raman spectra of ionic liquids has a partial character of longitudinal acoustic excitations.
Raman spectroscopy has been used to decipher structural rearrangements in the protic ionic liquid propylammonium nitrate, [C3H7NH3][NO3], as a function of temperature (180-420 K) at atmospheric pressure and as a function of pressure (0.1 MPa-2.0 GPa) at room temperature. Spectral modifications of the Raman bands belonging to the anion and cation normal modes indicate structural changes occurring in both the polar and nonpolar nanoscale domains of [C3H7NH3][NO3]. The crystalline phase of [C3H7NH3][NO3] at low temperature has cations in the anti conformation and undertakes a transition with increasing temperature to a phase with cations mostly in the gauche conformation. The distorted network of hydrogen bonds gives a distribution of local environments around the anions that remains in the normal liquid phase at high temperature. The sample under high pressure might become microscopically heterogeneous, allowing for micro-Raman imaging of different ordered phases of [C3H7NH3][NO3] in a diamond anvil cell.
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