All the Colors of the Rainbow: Natural Colorants

Dear Colleagues,

We have launched a volume that will focus on colorants found in the natural world. This would cover the identification of natural colorants in their unique environment. How and why are these colorants formed, what is their primary purpose and how might we use them for artificial purposes? The scope is not restricted to living systems. This Special Issue aims to address, from an interdisciplinary viewpoint, the key roles played by natural colorants and/or to identify the chromophores responsible for the coloration. Additional attention might be given to secondary effects, such as refraction, that help distinguish or promote the color. The goal is to enhance our shared understanding of diverse natural colorants, to establish synergies between colorant and local environment, and to identify new chromic phenomena. Submissions from a broad range of disciplines are welcome.

Topics to include the following:

• Extraction of colorants from minerals, including historical cases such as Egyptian Blue, and their subsequent usage;
• Colorants found in plants, algae and mushrooms, including their extraction, identification and subsequent synthesis in the laboratory and their application in the food or textile industries;
• The recognition and properties of colorants produced by animals, such as Indian Yellow;
• Coloring associated with aging, such as the ripening of fruits and the autumnal change;
• Classification and structural diversity of natural organic colorants;
• Functions of color in nature, including aposematism, crypsis and mimicry;
• Mechanisms of bioluminescence from diverse species such as luminous bacteria, fireflies, jellyfish and mushrooms;
• Applications of biotechnology for the production of natural colorants and their structural modification to unnatural derivatives.

Reviews of submitted manuscripts will commence upon submission. Early submission may expect an overall quick turn-around time.

Prof. Dr. Anthony Harriman
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Colorants is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.