Planta Med 2012; 78 - PJ20
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1321180

Characterization of the purple vacuolar pigment of Zygogonium ericetorum alga

AG Newsome 1, RB van Breemen 1
  • 1Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612

Zygogonium ericetorum is an acid and desiccation tolerant filamentous green algae that thrives in extreme habitats. A purple pigment which accumulates in the vacuoles of sun exposed layers of Z. ericatorum algae has remained unidentified for over fifty years. In this work, samples of the algae were collected from acid bogs in Yellowstone National Park, WY. The purple pigment was isolated and characterized by NMR, mass, IR, UV, EPR, X-ray, and 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. The purple pigment was found to be a highly branched polymer of glucose containing traces of ester linked polyphenolic moieties such as gallic acid (1). The purple color of the polysaccharide is due to complexation of the polyphenolic groups by ferric iron in a bis (L2Fe3+) configuration (2).