Periodic Graphics: The chemistry of hydrangea color changes

Chemical educator and Compound Interest blogger Andy Brunning explains illustrates the chemistry behind hydrangeas' hues To download a pdf of this article, visit cenm.ag/hydrangeas. References used to create this graphic: Ito, Takaaki, Dan Aoki, Kazuhiko Fukushima, and Kumi Yoshida. "Direct Mapping of Hydrangea Blue-Complex in Sepal Tissues of Hydrangea macrophylla ." Sci. Rep. (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-41968-7 . Schreiber, Henry. "Curious Chemistry Guides Hydrangea Colors." American Scientist , November–December 2014, 444. DOI: 10.1511/2014.111.444 . Yoshida, Kumi, Kin-ichi Oyama, and Tadao Kondo. "Insight into Chemical Mechanisms of Sepal Color Development and Variation in Hydrangea." Proc. Jpn. Acad., Ser. B (2021). DOI: 10.2183/pjab.97.003 . A collaboration between C&EN and Andy Brunning, author of the popular graphics blog Compound Interest To see more of Brunning's work, go to compoundchem.com. To see all of C&EN's Periodic Graphics, visit cenm.ag/periodicgraphics .