Betanin, the conspicuous red pigment of the root of the beet,
was first isolated in 1918 by Schudel (1) and has been recently
studied by Ainley and Robinson (2). It has been classified as an
anthocyanin, related to the pigments of the petals of many flowering
plants, but differs from typical anthocyanins in that it contains
nitrogen. The pigment is a somewhat unstable substance and
great difficulty has been experienced in preparing pure specimens;
the yields reported are small.
Because of the possible significance of