The pink pigment prodigiosin: Vibrational spectroscopy and DFT calculations

Jan Jehlička*, Ivan Němec, Tereza Varnali, Adam Culka, Aleš Svatoš, Ota Frank, Aharon Oren, Howell G.M. Edwards

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Prodigiosin is a pink colored tripyrrole pigment which occurs naturally as a biosynthetic product of Serratia marcescens. The direct acquisition of Raman spectra of this compound from fresh cultures of S. marcescens was found to be not possible even with a range of different excitation conditions and common instrumental settings. Therefore, IR and Raman spectroscopic data are given here for pure prodigiosin hydrochloride. DFT calculations of possible isomers were undertaken to better understand the spectral differences potentially arising from the different structures. Comparison of experimental and theoretical data shows a good correspondence with the selected molecular structure. The spectroscopic data obtained from prodigiosin identify spectral biomarker signatures which can complement information and databases obtained for other pigments considered as biosignatures in the fields of geobiology and exobiology.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)234-243
Number of pages10
JournalDyes and Pigments
Volume134
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

  • DFT calculations
  • Prodigiosin
  • Raman spectroscopy
  • Serratia marcescens

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The pink pigment prodigiosin: Vibrational spectroscopy and DFT calculations'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this