Composition and Color of Maya Blue: Reexamination of Literature Data Based On the Dehydroindigo Model

Abstract

An analysis of literature data studying the composition and color of Maya blue (MB) type materials prepared from indigo, dehydroindigo, and different aluminosilicates, accompanied by new spectral data, is presented. After thermal treatment at above 100 °C, indigo-based specimens displayed Raman and UV–vis spectroscopic features common to those of equivalent dehydroindigo-based replicants, thus supporting the so-called dehydroindigo model (J. Phys. Chem. B 2006, 110, 6027–6039) in which the dehydroindigo/indigo ratio, increasing with temperature, is crucial to determine the color of MB and its variability. The current analysis supports the view of MB as a polyfunctional hybrid material just characterized by the presence of different organic components, each one distributed in topological isomers differently attached to the clay support. On the basis of the comparison of spectral data for different channeled silicates (among others, palygorskite, sepiolite, and montmorillonite clays, and different zeolites), we proposed a view on the color characteristics of Maya blue-type specimens as defined by the compromise between trapping ability for indigo molecules and facility to promote the oxidation of indigo to dehydroindigo.