Role of aluminum in red-to-blue color changes in Hydrangea macrophylla sepals.
Summary of "Role of aluminum in red-to-blue color changes in Hydrangea macrophylla sepals."
Red, purple, and blue sepals on selected cultivars of Hydrangea macrophylla were analyzed for their aluminum content. This content was determined to be a function of the sepal color with red sepals possessing 0-10 μg Al/g fresh sepal, purple sepals having 10-40 μg Al/g fresh sepal, and blue sepals containing greater than 40 μg Al/g fresh sepal. Accordingly, the threshold aluminum content needed to change H. macrophylla sepals from red to blue was about 40 μg Al/g fresh sepal. Higher aluminum concentrations were incorporated into the sepals, but this additional aluminum did not affect the intensity or hue of the blue color. These observations agreed with a chemical model proposing that the concentration of the blue Al(3+)-anthocyanin complex reached a maximum when a sufficient excess of aluminum was present. In addition, the visible absorbance spectra of harvested red, purple, and blue sepals were duplicated by Al(3+) and anthocyanin (delphinidin-3-glucoside) mixtures in this model chemical system.
Affiliation
Department of Chemistry, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA, 24450, USA, HS@vmi.edu.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine
ISSN: 1572-8773
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21584711
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10534-011-9458-x
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