Isolation and Characterization of Pigments from Algae for Use as Natural Colorants

大多数合成着色剂是煤焦油衍生物，其中许多已被证明是儿童多动、癌症、胚胎毒性和过敏性的潜在致病因素。另一方面，天然色素不会表现出这些不受欢迎的属性，事实上，可能对人类健康有积极的影响，可能是因为它们作为抗氧化剂的活性和有毒代谢中间体的陷阱。作为天然着色剂的来源，微藻的利用率极低。该奖项将支持评估藻类色素作为食品、化妆品和医药产品潜在着色剂所需的研究。首先，将研究产生类胡萝卜素的菌株。将建立几种产生高水平类胡萝卜素的藻类的培养。将确定最适生长和类胡萝卜素生产的条件。将提取并测试制备数量的颜料。最后，将对该过程进行成本分析。如果该项目成功，将为食品、化妆品和制药行业提供安全和有用的着色剂来源。

Most synthetic colorants are coal tar derivatives many of which have been shown to be potential causative agents of hyperactivity in children, cancer, embryotoxicity and allergenicity. On the other hand, natural colors do not exhibit these undesirable attributees and may, in fact, have a positive effect on human health, presumably due to their activity as antioxidants and traps of toxic metabolic intermediates. As sources of natural colorants, microalgae are greatly underutilized. This award will support research needed to evaluate algal pigments as potential colorants for food, cosmetic abd pharmaceutical products. Initially carotenoid producing strains will be studied. Cultures of several algal species which produce high levels of carotenoids will be established. Conditions for optimum growth and carotenoid production will be determined. Preparative amounts of the pigments will be extracted and tested. Finally a cost analysis of the process will be performed. If the project is successful a safe and useful souce of colorants will be made available to the food, cosmetic and phamaceutical industry.