Structure Elucidation and Spectroscopic Analysis of Chromophores Produced by Oxidative Psilocin Dimerization
Chemistry - A European Journal June 1, 2021 Claudius Lenz, Sebastian Dörner, Alexander Sherwood et al. 19 citations
Psilocin, the psychoactive compound derived from psilocybin, turns blue when mushrooms containing it are bruised. This blue color was previously thought to come from a specific chemical dimer (5,5'-coupled quinone). By synthesizing stable, ring-methylated derivatives of psilocin and analyzing their oxidized forms with spectroscopy and computational modeling, researchers showed that the blue color actually arises from a different dimer (7,7'-coupled quinoid). The original hypothesis was not supported.