REVIEW ARTICLE
Natural Colorants: Historical, Processing and Sustainable
Prospects
Mohd Yusuf
.
Mohd Shabbir
.
Faqeer Mohammad
Received: 11 November 2016 / Accepted: 2 January 2017 / Published online: 16 January 2017
Ó The Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract With the public’s mature demand in recent times pressurized the textile industry for use of natural colorants, without
any harmful effects on environment and aquat ic ecosystem, and with more developed functionalities simultaneously.
Advanced developments for the natural bio-resources and their sustainable use for multifunctional clothing are gaining pace
now. Present review highlights historical overview of natural colorants, classification and predominantly processing of
colorants from sources, application on textiles surfaces with the functionalities provided by them. Chemistry of natural
colorants on textiles also discussed with relevance to adsorption isotherms and kinetic models for dyeing of textiles.
Graphical Abstract
Keywords Natural colorants Textiles Sustainability Processing Adsorption Application
M. Yusuf (&)
Department of Chemistry, Y.M.D. College, Maharshi Dayanand
University, Nuh, Haryana 122107, India
e-mail: yusuf1020@gmail.com
M. Shabbir F. Mohammad
Department of Chemistry, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central
University), New Delhi 110025, India
e-mail: shabbirmeo@gmail.com
F. Mohammad
e-mail: faqeermohammad@rediffmail.com
123
Nat. Prod. Bioprospect. (2017) 7:123–145
DOI 10.1007/s13659-017-0119-9
1 Introduction
Nature has always dominated over synthetic or artificial,
from the beginning of this world as nature was the only
option for human being then, and now with advantageous
characteristics of naturally derived materials over syn-
thetics giving them priority. Color has always played an
important role in the formation of different cultures of
human being all over the world. It affects every moment of
our lives, strongly influencing the clothes we wear, the
furnishings in our homes. In the past, painters had used
natural dyes extracted from plants, insects, molluscs and
minerals for their paintings. The unique character of their
works were the result of using different mixtures of dyes
and mordants, as varnishes and lacquers responsible for
cohesion of the pigments and protection of the layers
destroyed by environmental effects. Natural dyes were also
used in clothings, as well as in cosmetic industry (Henna,
Catechu), pharmaceutical industr y (Saffron, Rhubarb) and
in food industry (Annatto, Curcumin and Cochineal) [
1, 2].
As now public’s awareness for eco-preservation, eco-safety
and health concerns, environmentally benign and non-toxic
sustainability in bioresourced colorants, have created a
revolution in textile research and development [3–7]. Also,
environmental and aquatic preservation aspects forced
Western countries to exploit their high technical skills in
the advancements of textile materials for high quality,
technical performances, and side by side development of
cleaner production strategies for cost-effective value added
textile products [8].
However, during last few decades, ecological concerns
related to the use of most of the synthetic dyes, motivated
R&D scholars all over the globe to explore new eco-
friendly substitutes for minimizing their negative environ-
mental impacts, and various aspects of bio-colorant appli-
cations (Fig.
1). Therefore, both qualitative and
quantitative research investigations have been undertaken
all over the world on colorants derived from cleaner bio-
resources having minimal ecological negative impacts
[
9–13]. Consequently, strict Environmental and Ecological
Legislations have been imposed by many countries
including Germany, European Union, USA and India [
14].
As a result, eco-friendly non-toxic naturally occurring bio-
colorants have gaining re-emergence as a subsequent
alternative through green chemistry approaches with wide
spread applicability to textile coloration and other
biomedical aspects [
15]. This review article is intended to
discuss the isolated and dispersed impacts of bio-colorants
derived from bio-resources, via significant aspects includ-
ing, classification, extraction and dyeing, sustainability,
Fig. 1 Applications of natural colorants
124 M. Yusuf et al.
123
adsorption and chemical kinetics and recent technological
applications with future prospects.
2 Historical Background and Classification
The archaeological textile research involves the investi-
gation through scientific technologies to detect the chem-
ical composition and, to identify the sources of the
dyestuffs used in old textiles. These studies of the colorants
used by ancient peoples include a multidisciplinary
research, combines micro-analytical chemistry, spectro-
scopical methods, history, archaeology, botany etc. The
dyestuffs applied onto textile materials past civilizations
have been examined to investigate the development and
technological advancements in textile dyeing through
various archaeological periods. In the past decades,
researchers are very much benefited from the instrumental
analyses of ancient artifacts and colorants were analyzed
with micro chemical tests, such as TLC, HPLC, reversed
phase HPLC, FT-IR spectroscopy, UV–Visible spec-
troscopy, X-ray fluorescence, and energy dispersive X-ray
(EDX) spectroscopic techniques [
16–19]. Consequently,
some more influencing surface micro-analytical tech-
niques, such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS),
mass spectroscopy (MS), high performance mass spec-
troscopy (HPMS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass
spectrometry (ToF–SIMS) and atomic emission spec-
troscopy (AES) have been employed to study ancient
materials of art and archaeology, which provided the
widest range of information with the minimal degree of
damage to the tested object [
20–24].
In the Ancient Stone Age, descriptions have shown that
peoples were used various powders made up of colored
minerals, and applied to their hair and body parts to confer
magic powers while hunting as well as occasional dress-
ings. Many antiquity writers regarded the Phoenicians as
the pioneers of purple dyeing and they attribute the
beginning of this art to the maritime occasion city of Tyre
in the year 1439 BC. For this purpose they had used murex
shells. Also, ancient purpl e dyeing craft in the Roman
Empire was reported and, prove the cultural importance of
natural colors, the techniques of produc ing and applying
dyes. The spectroscopic analysis of ancient Egyptian
cuneiform texts have found dyed with bio-colorants which
was traded by the ingenious and industrious craftsman, like
madder, Murex sp., Tyrian purple, Indigofera sp. etc.
[
25, 26]. Ancient North African dyers were used bio-col-
orants derived from madder (Rubia tinctoria), cochineal
(Dactylopius coccus) and kermes (Kermes vermilio)as
sources of dyes and pigment lakes, but they were much
more affordable and were widely used for dyeing and in
medieval miniature paintings as well as in cosmetics
[
27, 28]. The Egyptians were conscious as they excelled in
weaving for many inscriptions extol the garments of the
gods and the bandages for the dead, principally dyed with
archil, a purple color derived from certain marine algae
found on rocks in the Mediterranean Sea; alkanet, a red
color prepared from the root of Alkanna tinctoria, Rubia
tinctorum, which generates red colored materials, woad
(Isatis tinctoria), a blue color obtained by a process of
fermentation from the leaves, and indigo from the leaves of
the Indigofera species [29–31].
Natural originated bio-colorants have been disco vered
through the ingenuity and pers istence of our ancestors, for
centuries and may be found veiled in such diverse places as
the plant roots (i.e. Rubia tinctorum), rhizomes (Rheum
emodi, Curcuma longa), insects (Lacifer lacca, Kermes)
and the secretions of sea snails. However, in Mediterranean
civilization, the most valu able colors were indigo for the
blues, madder for the reds and 6,6
0
-dibromoindigo for
purple [
2, 32]. Human being has always been interested in
colors; the art of dyeing has a long history and many of the
dyes go back to pre-historic days. The nails of Egyptian
Mummies were dyed with the leaves of henna, Lawsoni a
inermis [
33, 34].
Chemical tests of red fabrics found in the tomb of King
Tutankhamen in Egypt show the presence of alizarin, a
pigment extracted from madder. Kermes (Coccus ilicis/
Kermes vermillio) which flourished on evergreen Oak
(Quercus coccifera) in Spain, Portugal and Morocco is
identified in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, where ref-
erences are made to scarlet colored linen. Sappan wood
was exported from India to China as early as 900 BC
[35–37]. The relics from excavation at Mohanjodaro and
Harappa (Indus Valley Civilization), Ajanta Caves Painting
and Mughal dyeing, printing and paintin g, show the use of
natural dyes such as Madder, Indigo and Henna. Excava-
tion at Mohanjodaro show s the use of madder on cotton
clothes is the testimony of genius Indian craftspersons.
Classics like Mahabharata and Code of Manu, refer to the
colored fabrics, endowing them with speci fic social &
religious connotations [
38]. Colors communicate emotions
with greater clarity; they were not used randomly but
reflected the mood and emotions of the occasion. Irre-
spective of religious differences red became the symbol of
bride’s suhag, saffron the color of earth, yellow the color of
spring, black is associated with mourning and white with
widowhood, representing life bereft of happiness [
39].
The most famous and highly prized color through the
ages was Tyrian purple, noted in the Bible, a dye obtained
from the hypobranchial glands of several marine gas-
tropods molluscs of the genera Murex, Bolinus, Purpura,
Plicopurpura and Thias and it is probably the most
expensive dye in the history of man kind. Indian dyers were
perfect in the process of bleaching, mordanting and dyeing
Natural Colorants: Historical, Processing and Sustainable Prospects 125
123
by the fourth and fifth century AD. Records of com pound
colors of black, purple, red, blue and green with various
shades of pink and gold are available in contemporary
accounts of tenth century, amongst them, the anonymous;
Hudud-ul-Alam (982–983) is most important document in
the history of dyeing. In the period of Mughal reign
(1556–1803) dyers used Madder, Myrobalan, Pomegranate,
Turmeric, Kachnar, Tun, Dhao, Indigo, Henna, Catechu,
Saffron and Patang as natural dyes and pigments and the
mordants which were used in those days were soluble salts
of Aluminium, Chromium, Iron and Tin which adheres
strongly with fibres and give fast colors [
32, 40, 41].
Mordanting and block printing techniques are said to be
originated as pre-historic antiquity of India and major
towns like Delhi, Farrukhabad and Lucknow were the
famous towns of Mughal era as stated in Mrs. Hameeda
Khatoon Naqvi’s article Dyeing of cotton goods in the
Mughal Hindustan (1556–1803) [
42].
2.1 Classification of Natural Colorants
Natural dyes have been classifi ed in a number of ways
(Fig.
2). Major basis of classification of natural dyes are
their production sources, application methods of them on
textiles and their chemical structure.
2.1.1 Based on Chemical Structure
Classification of natural dyes on the basis of chemical
structure is the most appropriate and widely accepted
system of classification, because it readily identifies dyes
belonging to a particular chemical group which has certain
characteristic properties (Table
1).
2.1.1.1 Indigoids [
43–46] Indigoids (Indigo and Tyrian
purple) are perhaps the most important group of natural
dyes and the oldest dyes used by human civilizations.
Natural indigo is a dye having distinctive blue color with
long history and is regarded as one of the most important
and valuable of all colo ring matters. Indigo is extracted
from Indigofera spp. (Indigof era tinctoria), Polygonam
tinctorium (dyer’s knotweed), Perisicaria tinctoria, and
Isatis tinctoria (woad) [
47]. But nowadays lar ge percentage
of indigo (Several thousand tons per year) is synthetic. The
dye Tyrian purple (C.I. 75800) also known as Tyrian red,
royal purple and imperial purple is a bromine-containing
Fig. 2 Classification chart for natural colorants
126 M. Yusuf et al.
123
reddish-purple natural dye, derived from the hypobranchial
glands of several marine predatory sea snails in the family
Muricidae. This dye has excellent light fastness properties
[
48].
2.1.1.2 Pyridine Based Dyes Berberine (natural yellow
18; C.I. 75160), an isoquinoline alkaloid with a bright
yellow color, is the only natural dye belonging to this class
[
49]. Some important berberine yielding dye plants are
Berberis aristata, Berberis vulgaris [
50], Phellodendron
amurense [
51], and Rhizoma coptidis [52].
2.1.1.3 Carotenoids [
53, 54 ] Carotenoids also called
tetraterpenoids are brightly colored natural organic pig-
ments found in the chloroplast and chromoplast nearly in
all families of plants and some other photosynthetic
organisms. Only plants, fungi and prokaryotes are able to
synthesize carotenoids [
55]. The color of the carotenoids is
due to the presence of long conjugated double bonds. They
absorb light in the 400–500 nm region of the spectrum and
this give rise to yellow, orange and red color [
56]. Bixa
orellana, Crocus sativus, Curcuma longa, Nyctanthes
arbor-tristis, and Cedrela toona, are some of carotenoids
source plants.
2.1.1.4 Quinonoids [
57, 58] Quinonoids are widely dis-
tributed and occurs in large numbers in nature ranging from
yellow to red. Chemica l structures of naturally occurring
quinones are more diverse than any other group of plant
pigments. On the basis of chemical structure these dyes are
further classified as benzoquinones, a-naphthoquinones
and anthraquinones. Carthamus tinctorius (Safflower),
Choloraphora tinctoria (Gaudich), Lawsonia inermis/
Lawsonia alba (Henna/Mehendi), Juglans regia (Walnut),
Plumbago capencis (Chitraka/Chita), Drosera whittakeri
(Sundew), Tabebuia avellanedae (Taigu/Lapachol),
Alkanna tinctoria (Ratanjot/Alkanet), Lithospermum ery-
throrhizon (Tokyo Viole t/Shikone), Dactylopius coccus
(Cochineal), Kermes vermilio/Coccus ilicis, Laccifer lacca/
Kerria lacca/Coccus lacca, Rubia tinctorum, Rubia
cordifolia (Indian Madder), Rheum emo di (Himalayan
rhubarb), Oldenlandia umbellata (Chay Root), and Mor-
inda citrifolia (Al/surangi/ach) are the natural resources for
quinonoids class; subclass anthraquinonoids and naphtho-
quinonoids [
6, 7, 13, 43, 59].
2.1.1.5 Flavonoids [
60] Flavonoids provide the largest
group of plant dyes ranging in colors from pale yellow
(isoflavones) through deep yellow (chalcones, flavones,
flavonols, aurones), orange (aurones) to reds and blues
(anthocyanins). Various plant sources of flavonoid dyes
[
61–65] are Reseda luteola (Weld), Allium cepa (Onion),
Artocarpus heterophyllus/Artocarpus integrifolia (Jack-
fruit), Myrica esculenta (Kaiphal), Datisca cannabi na
(Hemp), Delphinium zalil (Yellow Larksur), Gossypium
herbaceum, Sophora japonica/Styphnolobium japonicum,
Butea monosperma/Butea frondosa (Flame of the forest/
Palas), Mallotus philippinensis (Kamala), Bignonia chica/
Arrabidaea china (Carajuru/Puca), Commelina communis,
and Pterocarpus santalinus (Red Sandal wood).
Table 1 Classification based on chemical structure with typical examples [13, 41, 44, 57, 58, 60, 64, 67, 96]
Classes Chemical structures
Indigoids
O
N
H
O
O
OH
OH
OH
OH
N
H
O
N
H
O
N
H
O
N
O
H
Br
O
H
N
H
N
Br
O
Isatan B Indigo Indirubin dibromoindirubin
Pyridine based
N
OCH
3
OCH
3
O
O
Berberine
Natural Colorants: Historical, Processing and Sustainable Prospects 127
123