Identification of brazilein type B as a key marker for the presence of brazilwood in colored historical objects.

ABSTRACT: The identification of brazilwood in historical artefacts is challenging and strongly relates to the chosen extraction method. When strong acid hydrolysis is used, redwood's primary dyeing component, brazilein, is never found, but instead leads to the identification of two related marker compounds. Commonly referred to as type B and type C compounds, they are characterized by specific UV and mass spectra. While type C has recently been recognized as urolithin C, the molecular structure of type B has only been inferred and never elucidated. In this work, a combination of synthesis, UV spectroscopy, high-resolution MS and NMR spectroscopy was used to unambiguously determine the previously unreported structure of the brazilein type B derivative. These results support the long-standing hypothes

SUBMITTER: Hendriks L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12315518 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature