Wouters, J. 1985 High performance liquid chromatography of anthraquinones: analysis of plant and insect extracts and dyed textiles.. Studies in Conservation 30: 119-128.

Notes: Separation and quantitative determination of anthraquinones is achieved by high performance liquid chromatography in mixtures of methanol, water and formic acid on a reversed-phase stationary phase. The products are identified by retention time and, more accurately, by standard additions and UV-visible spectroscopy. This methodology has been applied to extracts of plant roots and insects, commonly used in earlier times as the source of red dyestuffs for dyeing textiles. Quantitative evaluation of the anthraquinone derivatives present in ancient red dyes was carried out after acid hydrolysis of 0-2 to 2-0 mg of textile fibre. Due to the great sensitivity of the method, important minor constituents, such as kermesic acid in cochineal, can be detected. Coccus cacti, Coccus fragariae, Coccus uvai ursi, Kermococcus vermilio, Porphyrophora hamelii and P. polonica are mentioned in this paper.