the ‑ chrome suffix indicates the relationship with color, because the pure adrenal pigment is dark purple. Process For Preparing Adrenochrome.

In vivo and in vitro, the oxidation reaction of converting adrenaline into adrenergic red will occur. In vitro, silver oxide (Ag2O) was used. In solution, the adrenal pigment is pink, and further oxidation of the compound causes it to polymerize into a brown or black melanin compound. Several small-scale studies (involving 15 or fewer subjects) conducted in the 1950s and 1960s reported that adrenocortical pigment can trigger psychotic reactions, such as thinking disorders and withdrawal.

In 1954, researchers Abram Hoffer and Humphry Osmond claimed that adrenal pigment is a neurotoxic and psychotic substance, which may play a role in schizophrenia and other mental diseases.

In Hover's so-called "adrenal pigment hypothesis", he and Osmond speculated in 1967 that large doses of vitamin C and niacin could treat schizophrenia by reducing adrenal pigment in the brain.

The treatment of schizophrenia with this effective antioxidant is controversial. In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association reported the methodological defects in Hoffer's research on nicotinic acid as a treatment for schizophrenia, and referred to follow-up studies that did not prove any benefits of this treatment. A number of additional studies conducted in the United States, Canada and Australia also failed to find the benefits of large amounts of vitamins in the treatment of schizophrenia.