Stability and color changes of thermally treated betanin, phyllocactin, and hylocerenin solutions.

Thermal degradation of betanin, phyllocactin (malonyl-betanin), and hylocerenin (3' '-hydroxy-3' '-methyl-glutaryl-betanin) solutions isolated from purple pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus [Weber] Britton and Rose) was monitored by spectrophotometric and high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) analyses. For betanin and phyllocactin solutions, the color shift upon thermal treatment was found to be nearly identical, while hylocerenin samples exhibited an intelligibly higher chromatic steadiness. Betanin proved to be the most stable individual pigment structure, while the enhanced tinctorial stability of the integral phyllocactin and especially hylocerenin solutions was due to the formation of red degradation products exhibiting improved color retention as opposed to their respective genuine pigments. Individual structure-related stability characteristics can exclusively be assessed by HPLC-DAD analyses and may not be noticed by mere spectrophotometric assessment of color and tinctorial strength.