Inside the History of Italian Coloring Industries: An Investigation of ACNA Dyes through a Novel Analytical Protocol for Synthetic Dye Extraction and Characterization

Ilaria Serafini; Kathryn Raeburn McClure; Alessandro Ciccola; Flaminia Vincenti; Adele Bosi; Greta Peruzzi; Camilla Montesano; Manuel Sergi; Gabriele Favero; Roberta Curini

doi:10.3390/molecules28145331

Molecules (Jul 2023)

Inside the History of Italian Coloring Industries: An Investigation of ACNA Dyes through a Novel Analytical Protocol for Synthetic Dye Extraction and Characterization

Ilaria Serafini,
Kathryn Raeburn McClure,
Alessandro Ciccola,
Flaminia Vincenti,
Adele Bosi,
Greta Peruzzi,
Camilla Montesano,
Manuel Sergi,
Gabriele Favero,
Roberta Curini

Affiliations

Ilaria Serafini: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Kathryn Raeburn McClure: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Alessandro Ciccola: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Flaminia Vincenti: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Adele Bosi: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Greta Peruzzi: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Camilla Montesano: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Manuel Sergi: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Gabriele Favero: Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Roberta Curini: Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28145331
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 28, no. 14
p. 5331

Abstract

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The introduction of synthetic dyes completely changed the industrial production and use of colorants for art materials. From the synthesis of the first synthetic dye, mauveine, in 1856 until today, artists have enjoyed a wider range of colors and selection of chemical properties than was ever available before. However, the introduction of synthetic dyes introduced a wider variety and increased the complexity of the chemical structures of marketed dyes. This work looks towards the analysis of synthetically dyed objects in heritage collections, applying an extraction protocol based on the use of ammonia, which is considered favorable for natural anthraquinone dyes but has never before been applied to acid synthetic dyes. This work also presents an innovative cleanup step based on the use of an ion pair dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction for the purification and preconcentration of historical synthetic dyes before analysis. This approach was adapted from food science analysis and is applied to synthetic dyes in heritage science for the first time in this paper. The results showed adequate recovery of analytes and allowed for the ammonia-based extraction method to be applied successfully to 15 samples of suspected azo dyes from the Azienda Coloranti Nazionali e Affini (ACNA) synthetic dye collection, identified through untargeted HPLC-HRMS analyses.

Published in Molecules

ISSN: 1420-3049 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science: Chemistry: Organic chemistry
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules

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