Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 4 November 1966:
Vol. 154. no. 3749, pp. 645 - 646
DOI: 10.1126/science.154.3749.645
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Maya Blue: A Clay-Organic Pigment?

H. Van Olphen 1

1 Office of Critical Tables, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. 20418

Maya Blue, a pigment used by the Mayas in Yucatan, is remarkably stable: the color is not destroyed by hot concentrated mineral acids or by heating to about 250°C. The principal constituent is the colorless mineral attapulgite. It is proposed that the pigment is an adsorption complex of attapulgite and natural indigo; a synthetic equivalent may be prepared from attapulgite and either indoxylester or indigo, or by applying the vat-dyeing technique, with reduced indigo.The low dye content of the pigment (less than 0.5 percent) indicates that the dye is absorbed only on the external surfaces of the attapulgite particles and not throughout the channels in their structures. The complex as such is not stable to acids, but the stability displayed by Maya Blue is achieved simply by heating the complex to from 75° to 150°C for several days. An analogous stable pigment can be prepared from sepiolite and indigo. No stable pigments could be prepared from clays with platelike structures or from zeolites.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Octahedral cation distribution in palygorskite.
G. D. Chryssikos, V. Gionis, G. H. Kacandes, E. T. Stathopoulou, M. Suarez, E. Garcia-Romero, and M. S. Del Rio (2009)
American Mineralogist 94, 200-203
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Crystal structure refinement of Maya Blue pigment prepared with deuterated indigo, using neutron powder diffraction.
R. GIUSTETTO, D. LEVY, and G. CHIARI (2006)
European Journal of Mineralogy 18, 629-640
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
DEHYDRATION AND REHYDRATION OF PALYGORSKITE AND THE INFLUENCE OF WATER ON THE NANOPORES.
W. Kuang, W. Kuang, G. A. Facey, and C. Detellier (2004)
Clays and Clay Minerals 52, 635-642
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
IMPROVED CONSTRAINTS ON SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS OF PALYGORSKITE DEPOSITS OF THE HAWTHORNE FORMATION, SOUTHERN GEORGIA, FROM A DETAILED STUDY OF A CORE.
M. P. S. Krekeler (2004)
Clays and Clay Minerals 52, 253-262
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
STRUCTURAL STUDY OF MAYA BLUE: TEXTURAL, THERMAL AND SOLID-STATE MULTINUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE PALYGORSKITE-INDIGO AND SEPIOLITE-INDIGO ADDUCTS.
B. Hubbard, B. Hubbard, W. Kuang, A. Moser, G. A. Facey, and C. Detellier (2003)
Clays and Clay Minerals 51, 318-326
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Crystal structure refinements of palygorskite and Maya Blue from molecular modelling and powder synchrotron diffraction.
G. CHIARI, R. GIUSTETTO, and G. RICCHIARDI (2003)
European Journal of Mineralogy 15, 21-33
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)