[optimal] Re: Vegetable Dye
- From: Sarah Moyer <smoyer@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: optimal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2010 16:14:16 -0400
Wow....What a great end of the week string of posts! Thanks for the history
and the humor!
Sarah
On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 4:03 PM, Paula Morris <paula.morris@xxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> Bill,
>
> Are you telling me that the glowing armadillos of West Texas/ East New
> Mexico are the result of fluoreo tree snacking and NOT Los Alamos??
>
> Or, could Ethan be correct?
>
> ;-)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: optimal-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:optimal-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of William Anderson
> Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 1:51 PM
> To: 'optimal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
> Subject: [optimal] Re: Vegetable Dye
>
> Paula
>
>
> WHAT, I thought it came from the Fluoreo tree that grows out in West Texas
> and in the mountains in Utah. I heard the way it was discovered was when the
> Glow Injuns were hunting Jacklopes at night under a blue moon after the
> Jacklopes had eaten berries off of the Fluoreo tree all day
>
> Bill
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >>> Paula Morris <paula.morris@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 7/9/2010 2:07 PM >>>
> Hey Sarah,
>
> The rumor exists because it was stated to be a vegetable dye extracted from
> a plant resin first by Duke-Elder, and then by J Federman in the
> Intravenous Fluorescein Angiography chapter in Duane's Clinical
> Ophthalmology, 1991. That has since been corrected in more recent editions
> of Duane's.
>
> Fluorescein's basic component is naphthalene (an extract from the carbolic
> acid fraction of coal tar). It is heated with mercury sulfate and copper
> sulfate to 400-500 degrees Celsius to become phthallic anhydride. It is
> then heated with resorcinol to 200 degrees C. to become resorcinolphthalein,
> or fluorescein, which is highly insoluble. When resorcinolphthalein is
> dissolved in sodium hydroxide solution, it becomes fluorescein sodium which
> is highly soluble and what we use in retinal angiography.
>
> Why do I know this? Because our own Joe Warnicki challenged me back in
> 1990 to research "Where Does Fluorescein Come From?" That quest led me to
> research HJ Conn's biological Stains, the Merck index: An Encyclopedia of
> Chemicals, Drugs and Biologicals, Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences, and
> Drug Facts and Comparisons. Fluorescein Sodium is a synthetic dye assigned
> by the government to be called F,(food), D (drugs), & C(cosmetics) color
> yellow #8. The F,D,C colors are only given to synthetic dyes.
>
> So - it has a vegetable base if you want to harken back to pre-historic
> history as plants contributed to the formation of coal deposits, but more
> recently I think you could safely say it has a mineral source - naphthalene,
> ths tuff that makes moth balls stink. Probably don't want to tell you
> patients that...............
>
> And Thus endeth the chemistry lesson!
>
> p
>
> From: optimal-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:optimal-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Sarah Moyer
> Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 10:06 AM
> To: optimal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [optimal] Vegetable Dye
>
> July is here and so are the new residents! During a lecture/discussion
> about fluorescein sodium yesterday, we discussed how fluorescein sodium is a
> synthetic dye and NOT a vegetable dye. One of them had already read/heard
> it was a vegetable dye. He asked if there were ever ingredients in the dye
> that were vegetable based and if that is why this rumor exists. Does
> anybody know why some people refer to it as a vegetable dye?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Sarah Moyer
> University of North Carolina
>
>
>
>
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