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Carotenoid Analytical Services

Carotenoids (also called tetraterpenoids) are yellow, orange and red pigment compounds produced by mainly plants and algae. These compounds give the characteristiic color to plants (such as pumpkins, carrots and tomatoes) animals (canaries and flamingos) and fish/shellfish (such as salmon, lobster and shrimp). Carotenoids have shown to have an important role to support oxygen in its transport, storage and metabolism.

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Carotenoids play an important role in biological oxygenation. In plant cells they are involved in the control of trans-membrane transport of molecular oxygen released in photosynthesis. In animals carotenoids play an important role to support oxygen in its transport, storage and metabolism. There are over 1000 known carotenoids which can be classified into two groups - Xanthophylls (containing oxygen) and carotenes (not containing oxygen).

Their color, ranging from pale yellow through bright orange to deep red, is directly linked to their structure. Electrons in the conjugated system within the molecule is allowed to move freely across these areas of the molecule. As the number of conjugated double bonds increases, electrons associated with conjugated systems have more room to move, and require less energy to change states. This causes the range of energies of light absorbed by the molecule to decrease. As more wavelengths of light are absorbed from the longer end of the visible spectrum, the compounds acquire an increasingly red appearance.

Contact us to find out more about our Carotenoid Analytical Services

Andreas Aker – Vitas Analytical Services

Andreas Aker

Analytical Scientist

Anette Sauve – Vitas Analytical Services

Anette Sauve

Head of Pharma Services

Anne Marte Haug – Vitas Analytical Services

Anne Marte Haug

Analytical Scientist

Gulshan Islam – Vitas Analytical Services

Gulshan Islam

Analytical Scientist

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