Identification of natural dyes used in works of art by pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry combined with in situ trimethylsilylation

Abstract

Samples of four natural dyes from different organic families—natural madder (anthraquinonoid), curcuma (curcuminoid), saffron (carotenoid) and indigo (indigotic)—were analysed using a new procedure based on pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py–GC/MS), which includes the on-line derivatisation of the natural dyes using hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS). In addition, a previous procedure involving the addition of a 10% H₂SO₄ aqueous solution to the dye and further separation with ethyl acetate has been tested. This procedure enhances the sensitivity of the method by extracting the colouring compounds from the rest of the compounds present in the natural dye. Two possible derivatising reagents—HMDS and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH)—were compared in order to assess their effectiveness in the proposed method. Characteristic peaks from trimethylsilyl derivatives of alizarin, quinizarin, xanthopurpurin and purpurin were obtained for madder; peaks from safranal, isophorone and trimethylsilyl derivative of crocetin for saffron; peaks from 4-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxy)phenyl-3-buten-2-one and 4-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxy)phenyl-2-butanone, which are primary pyrolysis products of curcuma, and peaks from indole, 2-methylindole and 2,3-dihydroindol-2-one, which are primary pyrolysis products of indigo, among others, were obtained. The reported procedure leads to the unambiguous identification of the four studied dyes from solid samples formed by individual dyes.