• Question: I know Jessica will know what I am saying when I say what is anthocyanaidian?

    Asked by FootballFred03 to Andrew, Jade, Jessica, Kevin, Lynn on 17 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Jess Wade

      Jess Wade answered on 17 Jun 2015:

      Hey football Fred!

      IT’s almost a a chemical with lots of carbons and hydrogens and oxygens. It’s made from rings of carbon atoms that are holding hands and sharing their electrons, and makes lots of things colourful like flowers and fruits when it glues to sugar. It’s a molecule that can dissolve in water and is present in lots of different plants and fruits.

    • Photo: Andrew Fensham-Smith

      Andrew Fensham-Smith answered on 17 Jun 2015:

      Anthocyanin is a chemical compound which is made by plants and is very brightly coloured. It’s used by plants to attract insects to visit their flowers. Like Jessica said, electrons (small negative particles) are shared between the whole structure (we call these delocalised – as in, they aren’t local and in one place, they’re delocalised everywhere!) Chemicals compounds with delocalised (shared) electrons are often highly coloured – for example carrots are orange because of a chemical called carotene, which also has electrons being shared over a big structure.

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