Structures of Some Food Dyes

What About the Structure Gives the Color?

As you look at each of the structures of the dyes included here, you will
see something that they have in common. Each structure has conjugated double
bonds. That is, there is a series of alternating single and double bonds with these
structures having either 9 or 10 bonds in the line. !ince they are conjugated
"the electrons are delocali#ed in the line of bonds$, there are not really
alternating single and double bonds but the %i system e&tends throughout the
entire conjugated system. 'n such a system of this length, the difference in
energy between the ground state and the first e&cited state falls in the visible
region of the s%ectrum. The grou%s attached to such a conjugated system affect
the energies and thus the %osition within the visible s%ectrum. That is,
wavelengths of light are modified by the electron donating or acce%ting %ro%erties
of the grou%s attached to the conjugated system.
(ed )0, *ellow +, and *ellow , are called a#o dyes because they contain
a -.- grou%ing which is called an a#o grou%. /lue 1 and /lue 0 contain nitrogen
atoms but they are widely se%arated.
These dyes are water soluble because they are salts. They contain
sulfonic acid grou%s which are a %art of a sulfuric acid molecule bonded to a
carbon. These sulfonic acid grou%s are strong acids which have been neutrali#ed
to give the water soluble form of the dyes.
What About the Names?
These dyes have a variety of names which can make it rather confusing. A table
is given listing some of the more common names for the dyes considered here.
F D & C Number Name Color Name
(ed )0 allura food red 11
*ellow + tartra#ine food yellow )
acid yellow 02
*ellow , sunset yellow 343 food yellow 2
acid yellow ,
/lue 1 brilliant blue 343 food blue 0
acid blue 9
/lue 0 indigo carmine
indigotine
food blue 1
The numbers don5t match. The numbers for the blue dyes are reversed. 3674
/lue 1 is food blue 0 and 3674 /lue 0 is food blue 1.
What Happens to the Dye !at?
'f you eat a lot of red 878s or drink a lot of red 9ool:Aid, why isn5t your
urine %ink; !ome of these dyes do %ass through the digestive track unchanged
but most are metaboli#ed. The molecules are broken down into sim%ler
molecules which are not colored. !ome dyes are banned for use in food. Even
those which are allowed can cause %roblems for a small number of %eo%le. 't isn5t
the dye causing the %roblems but the metabolites. This situation is not
uncommon. 8y wife is not allergic to <uinine "a com%onent of certain soft drinks
%rimarily used in the %re%aration of drinks called Tom 4ollins" /ut after a cou%le
of hours she breaks out in a rash. !he is allergic to a metabolite of <uinine so the
allergic reaction doesn5t show u% until the <uinine is being metaboli#ed. 8ore
information about %ossible health %roblems from dyes can be found on the web
but read most of it with caution. There are lot of %eo%le who %ut things out there
without a whole lot of fact or research behind it.
#he Structure of FD&C $ed %&
Structure of FD&C 'ello( )
Structure of FD&C 'ello( *
Structure of FD&C +lue ,
Structure of FD&C +lue -
Web .in/s
htt%=>>www.red)0.com>%ages>chemistry.html
This site has a brief discussion of dyes but the most im%ressive as%ect of this site
are the structures. There are ball and stick models of (ed )0, *ellow + and
*ellow , %lus a banned dye, !udan 1. 'f you roll the cursor over the structure of
(ed )0 it turns into *ellow ,. This allows you to see the differences in the
structures of the two dyes and how similar they really are. The same is true for
the other structures.
?iki%edia has %ages on the various dyes. There is little chemistry given e&ce%t
for indigo which is not a food dye. 'f you want to know all the various names for a
%articular dye, you will find it. /eware of any information about health ha#ards @
the only references given are to news%a%er articles, not to genuine scientific
studies. Even when ?iki%edia sounds good, it may be incorrect.