Stsudies on Carotenoid pigments and colour of fruits in Japan : III. The Carotenoids of apricots

The carotenoids have been examined in Japanese apricots, Heiwa and Niigataomi varieties, by means of magnesia column chromatography. The coloured carotenoid pattern which was shown by the average of patterns obtained with each variety was β-carotene about 70, cryptoxanthin 7, γ-carotene 7, lycopene 5,ζ-carotene 2, zeaxanthin 2, lutein 1.5 and violaxanthin 1.5 to total coloured caroteinoid 100. Alpha-carotene, mutatochrome, neurosporene, hydroxy-ζ-carotene, rubixanthin, persicaxanthin, luteoxanthin, flovoxanthin and auroxanthin as other constituents were presents a little amounts. The carotenoid pattern of canned apricot was also similar to fresh raw apricot, excepted 5,6-epoxide carotenoids converted to 5,8 epoxides in preparation and storage. It was observed that Niigataomi, as compared with Heiwa, was less β-carotene and cryptoxanthin, and more γ-carotene and lycopene in the carotenoid pattern, and the former was slightly slightly more reddish colour than the latter.