Study of Some Natural Coloring Matters and the Possibility of Using Them in Food and Cosmetic Production

Family Boraginaceae is one of the most important families in plant kingdom. Although the plants of this family were of little economic importance due to the presence of toxic pyrollizidine alkaloids, their roots contain colored pigments of great medical importance. Naphthazarin pigments are widely used as wound healing, anti-inflammatory and anti- cancer drugs. Moreover, they are widely used as natural colorants for food and cosmetics.So, this thesis comprises a Pharmacognostical study of Echium longifolium (Del.) belonging to family Boraginaceae.Chapter I: Phytochemical Investigation of Naphthazarin Pigments Present in Echium longifolium (Del.) Roots..Extraction and isolation of naphthazarin pigments: The powdered root was extracted with n-hexane and concentrated to obtain a red viscous mass.Isolation of the compounds: The chromatographic investigation of the residue left after distillation of n-hexane extract revealed the presence of these compounds using column chromatography and preparative TLC:Compound I + II: was identified as mixture of isovaleryl shikonin and α- methyl butyl shikonin through UV, IR, MS, 1H- and 13C-NMR spectral data and by comparison with the reported data.Compound III: was identified as shikonin through its UV, IR, MS, 1H- and 13C-NMR spectral data and by comparison with the reported data.Chapter II: Tissue culture studies.1-Establishment of callus culture of the plant