Articles
Screening of La Réunion Island dye plant species diversity
Article number
1361_11
Pages
93 – 104
Language
English
Abstract
The search for alternative sources of colorants and pigments has been put forward over the last two decades in numerous industrial sectors such as textile, food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Proven toxicity and environmental burdens caused by artificial dyestuffs have motivated industries to turn to natural colorants, and notably those originated from plants.
Reunion island possesses a significant number of endemic plant species, as well as native and exotic species, which are rich in pigments of diverse hues.
Through the PLANTIN European project, conducted by the laboratory ChemBioPro (University of La Réunion), in collaboration with the Conservatoire Botanique National de Mascarin (CBNM), and several other partners from Réunion Island, a screening of the tropical plant biodiversity allowed the identification of several promising dye-producing local plant species.
The importance of different physicochemical criteria such as the endemicity, the extracted colors, or plant parts used for the extraction process, among others, have been considered to establish a classification method of the inventoried dye-producing plant species to finally select for the most compelling species for dye application in industries.
The Indian Ocean region still offers huge potential for discovering new sources of plant-based dyestuffs.
These latter showed highly promising coloring and physicochemical properties, consequently offering versatile application possibilities and opening up new markets.
Thus, there is no doubt this is the tip of the iceberg, and many other tropical plant species should be investigated to unveil myriad of other useful natural compounds.
Proven toxicity and environmental burdens caused by artificial dyestuffs have motivated industries to turn to natural colorants, and notably those originated from plants.
Reunion island possesses a significant number of endemic plant species, as well as native and exotic species, which are rich in pigments of diverse hues.
Through the PLANTIN European project, conducted by the laboratory ChemBioPro (University of La Réunion), in collaboration with the Conservatoire Botanique National de Mascarin (CBNM), and several other partners from Réunion Island, a screening of the tropical plant biodiversity allowed the identification of several promising dye-producing local plant species.
The importance of different physicochemical criteria such as the endemicity, the extracted colors, or plant parts used for the extraction process, among others, have been considered to establish a classification method of the inventoried dye-producing plant species to finally select for the most compelling species for dye application in industries.
The Indian Ocean region still offers huge potential for discovering new sources of plant-based dyestuffs.
These latter showed highly promising coloring and physicochemical properties, consequently offering versatile application possibilities and opening up new markets.
Thus, there is no doubt this is the tip of the iceberg, and many other tropical plant species should be investigated to unveil myriad of other useful natural compounds.
Authors
S. Pithon, M. Andriamanantena, C. Lavergne, M. Dijoux, T. Petit, Y. Caro
Keywords
La Reunion Island, dye plants, pigments, natural colorants, plant biodiversity
Groups involved
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