HPLC-PDA analysis of brominated indirubinoid, indigoid, and isatinoid dyes

The Purples and Violets of Phoenicia and of the Bible, the most royal and sacred of all ancient textile dyes, were produced from certain species of Levantine mollusks. The colors fashioned from these sea snails were known as Tyrian or Royal Purple and Biblical Blue. These Mediterranean Muricidae marine creatures, whose common familial approbation is Murex, were in use for the industrial biochemical production of the purple pigment from as early as perhaps 4,000 years ago (Stieglitz, 1994; Reese, 2000; Koren, 2005). Along the Mediterranean coasts of what are now Israel and Lebanon, only three Muricidae species have been associated with purple dyeing in antiquity (Spanier and Karmon, 1987). These species include Murex trunculus (also known as Hexaplex trunculus, Phyllonotus trunculus, and as Trunculariopsis trunculus), Murex brandaris (also Bolinus brandaris), and Purpura haemastoma (also Thais haemastoma and Stramonita haemastoma).