The Anthocyanins of Strawberry, Rhubarb, Radish and Onion

Abstract

SUMMARY — The presence of a large number of previously unnoticed anthocyanins was demonstrated in strawberry, rhubarb, radish and onion. The number of anthocyanins found in this survey and those reported previously (in brackets) in each plant were: strawberry: 6 (4), rhubarb: 3 (2), radish: 13 (5), onion: 8 (3). Some of the chromatograms indicated that the number of anthocyanins present was even greater than that. A quantitative difference was found between the anthocyanin pattern of the examined varieties. The survey was carried out using paper chromatography on Whatman No. 3 MM paper with two new solvent systems of high resolving power. The solvents were: 1‐butanol‐benzene‐formic acid‐water (100: 19: 10: 25) and 1‐butanol‐formic acid‐water (100: 25: 60).