Pigments of Wild Mushrooms Studied by Raman Spectroscopy

ABSTRACT The variety of colors found in wild mushrooms is remarkable: Yellow chanterelles, red fly agarics, violet wood blewits, blue indigo milk caps, green verdigris roundheads, brown bay cups, and black dead man's fingers are just a few examples. The pigments responsible for these hues belong to various classes of chemical compounds. Identifying them is a significant challenge, often necessitating advanced equipment and unconventional sample preparation methods. This study shows that direct spectroscopic measurements on living organisms through Raman scattering can provide a wealth of valuable information regarding their pigments. Raman spectroscopy was used to successfully identify carotenoids, melanins, polyketides (which include pulvinic acid derivatives, styrylpyrones, and anthraquinones), and polyphenol‐metal complexes in the spores and fruiting bodies of 68 different species of mushrooms. Such an approach is particularly sensitive to carotenoids and conjugated polyenals, allowing for the estimation of their concentrations and structural parameters. The research demonstrates that Raman spectroscopy can serve as a highly effective tool for investigating colored biological materials in vivo.