Notice anything different in your pack of Crayola crayons this year? Last year, Crayola retired Dandelion, a orangeish-yellow color, and replaced it with “Bluetiful”, a blue color based on a 2009 discovery at Oregon State University, the first new blue pigment in 200 years! The pigment is YInMn (pronounced yin-min): yttrium, indium and manganese oxides.
That got us to wondering… What is the Chemistry behind this new crayon and how can we use spectroscopy to identify chemical composition and distinguish color?
The chemical formula of YInMn Blue is YIn1-xMnxO3. These compositions adopt a crystal structure in which the chromophore responsible for the intense blue color (Mn3+) resides in the trigonal bipyramidal site (shown below). The intensity of the color can be systematically tuned by adjusting the In:Mn ratio.
By measuring the spectral properties of this series it was found that YIn1-xMnxO3 exhibits high absorbance in the UV region and high reflectivity in the near-infrared region when compared to currently-used Cobalt Blue pigments.
Sadly, most of us won’t be using crayons in our day-to-day lives, but we might be teaching about spectroscopy – and StellarNet has a brand new offering for it’s academic customers.
The StellarNet Laboratory Handbook is a bound collection of six spectroscopy lab experiments all relying on relevant, practical applications. Each lab outlines learning goals, the material and equipment needed, and has pre-and post-lab questions. The handbook is available to any of StellarNet’s customers.
1. Quantification of Food Dye in Sports Drinks
2. Spectrophotometric Analysis of Cran-Apple Juice
3. Quantification of Riboflavin in Energy Drinks
4. Exploring Chemical Bonding Using Raman
5. Spectroscopy Application: Using Raman Spectroscopy to Detect Art Forgeries
6. Redox Titration of Ferricyanide to Ferrocyanide
StellarNet has hundreds of academic customers who use their product specifically for research applications, but these same instruments can be used as teaching tools as well. The rugged mini spectrometers are designed to withstand daily wear and tear, and are ideal to use in a student lab environment.
Our StellarNet Team decided to take it a step further and compare the Bluetiful YInMn color to other shades of blue delivered in a set of crayons.
bluetiful
Bluetiful crayon
blue
Blue crayon
cerulean
Cerulean crayon
Blue Colors overlay
Reflectance Spectra Overlay
cornflower
Cornflower crayon
Spring Semester Demo Program
This Spring, StellarNet is offering a variety of demo spectroscopy kits to teaching professors. UV-VIS Absorbance Chemistry, Colorimetry, & Fluorescence Spectroscopy are among the available demos. Contact us below if you are interested and we can schedule your system for delivery! While supplies last.
Educational Discounts
If you already know what you want and need your system delivered ASAP then please email us today. We are offering up to 15% discounts on selected spectroscopy systems for education and have great discounts on multi-unit lab purchases. Fill out the form below and someone will contact you today!
StellarNet Back to School Specials Information Request
Fill out the form below to get more info about our offerings- Let us know which systems you're interested in!
