The all-trans, g-cis, and 9,9'-di-cis forms of (3RS,3'RS) -alloxanthin have been synthesised, also the 9cis-isomer of (3RS,6'RS) -crocoxanthin. Perhydrogenation of alloxanthin gives a product with the same optical properties as perhydrozeaxanthin. These results confirm the formulation of alloxanthin as ( 3R,3'R) -7,8,7',8'tetrade hydrop, pcarotene -3,3'-d i 01, of d iatoxant hi n as (3R,3'R) -7,8 -dide hydro -P,P-carotene-3,3'-diol, of crocoxanthin as an enantiomer (probably 3R) of (G'R)-7,8-didehydro-p,~c a rote n -3o I, of m o n ad oxa n t h i n as a n a I Itransi so m er of 7,8d id e h y d ro -P,Eca ro t e n e -3,3'd i o I, a n d of pectenolone as an all-trans-isomer of 3,3'-dihydroxy -7',8'-didehydro-P,P-caroten-4-one. Carotenoid isomers with the cis-configuration about the acyclic double bond adjacent to an acetylenic linkage in either the 7-or 7'-position were shown to be thermodynamically more stable than the all-trans-forms. Alloxanthin, crocoxanthin, and monadoxanthin were isolated from flagellates of the algal class C r y p t ~p h y c e a e , ~. ~ and provided the first examples of natural acetylenic c a r ~t e n o i d s . ~ Alloxanthin was subsequently shown ' to be identical with pectenoxanthin from the scallop Pecten rna~irnus,~*~ with cynthiaxanthin from the tunicate, Halocynthia papillosa,6-8 and with a carotenoid present in the edible mussel, Mytilus edulis, and the California sea mussel, M . californiunus.'Alloxanthin was formulated as the 7,7'-diacetylenic analogue$ of zeaxanthin (8), largely on the basis of its n.m.r. and mass ~p e c t r a . ~The i.r. absorption due to the carbon-carbon triple bond stretching frequency was surprisingly weak, presum-ably owing to the nature of the substitution. Its perhydroderivative (see Experimental section) exhibited similar optical rotation to that of perhydro-zeaxanthin, indicating the 3R,3'R configuration ( ' O Crocoxanthin, monadoxanthin, and pectenolone (a minor pigment from P. maximus and H . papillosa ') were similarly formulated as the mono-acetylenic analogues (3), (4), and (5) of a-cryptoxanthin (9), lutein (lo), and adonixanthin (1 l), respecti ~e l y . ~. ' Diatoxanthin, a common pigment of diatoms '' and Chrysophyceae,' 2, ' was formulated as the mono-acetylenic analogue (6) of zeaxanthin (8), and assigned the 3R,3'R configuration (7) on the basis of 0.r.d. studies.