lycopene Chem.
(ˈlaɪkəʊpiːn)
[f. lycopin + -ene.]
A polyunsaturated hydrocarbon, C40H56, which is a red carotenoid pigment present in tomatoes and many berries and fruits.
| 1935 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. CXII. 424 In an investigation of the plastid pigments of marsh dodder,..α- and β-carotenes, γ-carotene, lycopene, and rubixanthin have been isolated. 1950 Genetics XXXV. 209 Tomatoes which contain principally beta-carotene differ from those which contain mostly lycopene by a single incompletely dominant gene. 1972 Goodwin & Mercer Introd. Plant Biochem. xi. 279 The conversion of phytoene into coloured carotenoids involves a stepwise desaturation to neurosporene and lycopene which are then converted into the cyclic carotenoids. |