Astaxanthin
Chemical Name: 3,3′-Dihydroxy-4,4′-diketo-β,β′-carotene
Chemical Formula: C40H52O4
Molecular Weight: 596.84
Properties: Astaxanthin is an orange-red to purple-red carotenoid. It is liposoluble, insoluble in water, and easily soluble in organic solvents such as chloroform, acetone, and benzene. In nature, it mainly exists in the form of esters and forms complexes with proteins, giving many marine organisms their unique colors, such as shrimps, crabs, and salmons.
CAS Number: 472 - 61 - 7
Chemical Formula: C40H52O4
Molecular Weight: 596.84
Properties: Astaxanthin is an orange-red to purple-red carotenoid. It is liposoluble, insoluble in water, and easily soluble in organic solvents such as chloroform, acetone, and benzene. In nature, it mainly exists in the form of esters and forms complexes with proteins, giving many marine organisms their unique colors, such as shrimps, crabs, and salmons.
CAS Number: 472 - 61 - 7
- Main Sources
- Natural Sources
- Microalgae: Haematococcus pluvialis is one of the natural sources with the highest known astaxanthin content. Under specific environmental conditions, Haematococcus pluvialis can synthesize and accumulate a large amount of astaxanthin. In addition, some other microalgae such as Chlorella zofingiensis and Euglena also can produce astaxanthin.
- Marine Animals: Crustaceans such as shrimps and crabs, as well as fish such as salmons and trouts, ingest plankton and algae containing astaxanthin and accumulate astaxanthin in their bodies, making themselves show corresponding colors.
- Synthetic Sources: Due to the limited production of natural astaxanthin, which is difficult to meet the market demand, synthetic astaxanthin has emerged. Synthetic astaxanthin is mainly produced through chemical synthesis, using β-ionone and others as raw materials and going through multiple chemical reaction steps. However, synthetic astaxanthin has certain differences from natural astaxanthin in terms of structure and biological activity.
- Main Functions
- Antioxidation: Astaxanthin has extremely strong antioxidant capacity, 550 times that of vitamin E and 10 times that of β-carotene. It can effectively scavenge free radicals in the body, reduce oxidative stress reactions, and prevent diseases related to oxidative damage, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes.
- Vision Protection: Astaxanthin can cross the blood-eye barrier and accumulate in tissues such as the retina of the eye, protecting the eye from free radical damage, preventing eye diseases such as retinopathy and macular degeneration, and improving eyesight.
- Anti-inflammation: Astaxanthin can regulate inflammation-related signaling pathways, inhibit the release of inflammatory mediators, and reduce the inflammatory response, thus having a certain preventive and alleviating effect on inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and enteritis.
- Skin Health Improvement: Astaxanthin can reduce the damage of ultraviolet rays to the skin, prevent sunburn and photoaging, promote the synthesis of collagen, increase the elasticity and luster of the skin, and reduce the occurrence of wrinkles.
- Immune Enhancement: Astaxanthin can activate immune cells, enhance the body's immune function, improve the resistance to pathogens, and help the body resist diseases.
- Application Fields
- Health Products: As a highly effective antioxidant and nutritional supplement, astaxanthin is widely used in the health product industry and made into products such as astaxanthin capsules, soft capsules, and oral liquids for health care purposes such as antioxidation, anti-aging, and immune enhancement.
- Food: Astaxanthin can be used as a food additive to improve the color and nutrition of food. In aquaculture, the addition of astaxanthin can make farmed shrimps, crabs, fish, etc. show more vivid colors, improving the quality and market value of products. In some functional foods, astaxanthin is also added to increase the antioxidant function and nutritional value of the products.
- Cosmetics: The antioxidant and beauty effects of astaxanthin make it an important ingredient in cosmetics. It is used in skin care products, makeup and other products, such as creams, lotions, masks, lipsticks, etc., which can help the skin resist free radical damage, delay skin aging, and improve skin condition.
- Medicine: The application of astaxanthin in the medical field has also attracted extensive attention. Studies have shown that it has potential effects in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neurological diseases, etc., and related drug research and development is in progress.
