Anthocyanin color behavior and stability during storage: effect of intermolecular copigmentation.

Intermolecular copigmentation reactions are significantly responsible for the manifold color expression of fruits, berries, and their products. These reactions were investigated with five anthocyanins and five phenolic acids acting as copigments. The stability of the pigment-copigment complexes formed was studied during a storage period of 6 months. The study was conducted using a UV-visible spectrophotometer to monitor the hyperchromic effect and the bathochromic shift of the complexes. The greatest copigmentation reactions took place in malvidin 3-glucoside solutions. The strongest copigments for all anthocyanins were ferulic and rosmarinic acids. The immediate reaction of rosmarinic acid with malvidin 3-glucoside resulted in the biggest bathochromic shift (19 nm) and the strongest hyperchromic effect, increasing the color intensity by 260%. The color induced by rosmarinic acid was not very stable. The color intensity of pelargonidin 3-glucoside increased greatly throughout the storage period with the addition of ferulic and caffeic acids.