Chlorophyllin refers to any one of a group of closely related

water-soluble In chemistry, solubility is the ability of a substance, the solute, to form a solution with another substance, the solvent. Insolubility is the opposite property, the inability of the solute to form such a solution. The extent of the solub ...

salts that are

semi-synthetic Semisynthesis, or partial chemical synthesis, is a type of chemical synthesis that uses chemical compounds isolated from natural sources (such as microbial cell cultures or plant material) as the starting materials to produce novel compounds with ...

derivatives of chlorophyll, differing in the identity of the cations associated with the anion. Its most common form is a

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

derivative used as a food additive and in alternative medicine. As a food coloring agent, copper complex chlorophyllin is known as natural green 3 and has the E number E141.

Uses

Alternative medicine

Chlorophyllin is the active ingredient in a number of internally taken preparations intended to reduce odors associated with incontinence, colostomies, and similar procedures, as well as body odor in general. Also in recent years it has been used as a home remedy to treat acne and skin conditions such as pimples or blackheads, thanks to its antimicrobial effect. It is also available as a topical preparation, purportedly useful for both treatment and odor control of wounds, injuries,

radiation burn A radiation burn is a damage to the skin or other biological tissue and organs as an effect of radiation. The radiation types of greatest concern are thermal radiation, radio frequency energy, ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation. The most ...

s, and other skin conditions.

3D printing

Chlorophyllin has been used as a biocompatible photoblocker for generating green colored hydrogels with complex inner structures.

Chemical properties

Chlorophyllin is water-soluble. ''

In vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called " test-tube experiments", these studies in biology ...

'', it binds to some environmental mutagens such as the

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a class of organic compounds that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest representative is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. ...

s benzo 'a''yrene and dibenzo 'a'',''i''yrene. Chlorophyllin also binds to

acridine orange Acridine orange is an organic compound that serves as a nucleic acid-selective fluorescent dye with cationic properties useful for cell cycle determination. Acridine orange is cell-permeable, which allows the dye to interact with DNA by interca ...

Biological properties

Chlorophyllin has been validated to exhibit ameliorative effects against food additive induced

genotoxicity Genotoxicity is the property of chemical agents that damage the genetic information within a cell causing mutations, which may lead to cancer. While genotoxicity is often confused with mutagenicity, all mutagens are genotoxic, but some genotoxic su ...

(elevating the expression of DNA repair proteins

p53 p53, also known as Tumor protein P53, cellular tumor antigen p53 (UniProt name), or transformation-related protein 53 (TRP53) is a regulatory protein that is often mutated in human cancers. The p53 proteins (originally thought to be, and often s ...

and PARP) and mitochondrial dysfunction and may be used as a therapeutic tool for the management of diseases like

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

and

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. It has shown to modulate several protein functions including the expression of

cytokine Cytokines are a broad and loose category of small proteins (~5–25 kDa) important in cell signaling. Cytokines are peptides and cannot cross the lipid bilayer of cells to enter the cytoplasm. Cytokines have been shown to be involved in autocrin ...

proteins NFkβ and

IFNγ Interferon gamma (IFN-γ) is a dimerized soluble cytokine that is the only member of the type II class of interferons. The existence of this interferon, which early in its history was known as immune interferon, was described by E. F. Wheelock ...

References

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External links

Chlorophyll and Chlorophyllin
Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University

Dietary supplements Food additives Copper complexes Tetrapyrroles E-number additives