Bleaching of the red anthocyanin induced by superoxide radical.

Red anthocyanin prepared from petals of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. was photobleached in the EDTA-riboflavin system. The rate of bleaching monitored at 565 nm depended on the light intensity and EDTA concentrations. Anaerobic conditions and/or addition of superoxide dismutase prevented the bleaching of anthocyanin, whereas mannitol and catalase did not. A similar bleaching was observed under dark conditions in the xanthine-xanthine oxidase system. The results indicate that anthocyanin is bleached by the nonenzymatic reaction with the superoxide radical and suggest that the pigment can function as an antioxidant. The antioxidative efficiency of cyanidin to superoxide was 10-fold higher than that of cyanidin-3-sophoroside as a Hibiscus anthocyanin.