Anthocyanin-Based Natural Dyes and Nanoscale Coatings

Abstract

Anthocyanins are water-soluble colorants that are responsible for color development in the plant kingdom. They are preferred as coloring agents in textiles, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, foods and drinks due to their biomedical properties like free radical scavenging, anti-microbial, ultraviolet (UV) protection, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetes and toxic-free nature. There are hundreds of them in the plant, which are derivatives of pelargonidin, delphinidin, petunidin, malvidin, peonidin and cyanidin. They are temperature and pH dependent and when applied on textiles they suffer from poor lightfastness. The exploitation of chemical and natural mordants in the dyeing process has been reported to circumvent their challenges as colorants for textiles. These challenges are reported by several researchers to be better alleviated by mordanting using chemical-or biomordants in nanoscale form or nanocoating the dyed substrates. This chapter discussed the sources, biosynthesis, extraction/isolation, forms and properties of anthocyanins and the nanoscale coating of their dyed textiles. © The Author(s).