# Last edited on 2017-02-08 04:45:29 by jstolfi

EXTRACTING PIGMENT FROM BLACK COCONUTS

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2016-??-??

  Collected about 115 grams of small black fruits ("coquinhos") from
  palm trees in the Unicamp campus, in the center islands of the road
  that goes from the Andre Tosello roundabout to the bank road,
  skirting the N border of the forest reserve.
  
  The fruits came in bunches of hundreds, attached to broom-like
  fruiting branches without a peduncle. They range from 8 to 14 mm in
  diameter. They have a thin friable black rind, about 1 mm of sticky
  black pulp, and a hard black "coconut" kernel.
  
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2017-02-07

  Trying to extract their black pigment.
  
  Placed 3 coconuts, lightly crushed with the fingers, in 3 test 
  tubes
  
    [A1] ethanol 92% dehydrated (??) with Na2CO3 (E8) in previous experiment.
    
    [A2] water
    
    [A3] water with Na2CO3.
    
  Soon the uberliq in [A2] and [A3] acquired a brown-yellow tinge.  The uberliq
  in [A1] remained clear.
  
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2017-02-07 Tue

  After 24 hs, the uberliqs in the test tubes were:
  
    [A1] Pale yellow clear.
    
    [A2] Dark yellow-brown clear.
    
    [A3] Even darker yellow-brown clear.
    
  Heated [A2] in bainmarie to boiling.  Liquid started to bubble 
  and became yellowish milk.  Remained so on cooling.