Discovery of a natural cyan blue: A unique food-sourced anthocyanin could replace synthetic brilliant blue.

The color of food is critical to the food and beverage industries, as it influences many properties beyond eye-pleasing visuals including flavor, safety, and nutritional value. Blue is one of the rarest colors in nature's food palette-especially a cyan blue-giving scientists few sources for natural blue food colorants. Finding a natural cyan blue dye equivalent to FD&C Blue No. 1 remains an industry-wide challenge and the subject of several research programs worldwide. Computational simulations and large-array spectroscopic techniques were used to determine the 3D chemical structure, color expression, and stability of this previously uncharacterized cyan blue anthocyanin-based colorant. Synthetic biology and computational protein design tools were leveraged to develop an enzymatic transformation of red cabbage anthocyanins into the desired anthocyanin. More broadly, this research demonstrates the power of a multidisciplinary strategy to solve a long-standing challenge in the food industry.

Solid phase fractionation techniques for segregation of red cabbage anthocyanins with different colorimetric and stability properties.

Red cabbage anthocyanin extract contains cyanidin derivatives as various non-, mono-, and di-acylated forms capable of expressing various colors from red to blue. The objective of this study was to develop a simple solid phase extraction (SPE) method to fractionate and segregate di-acylated anthocyanins which have greater stability and more desirable blue colorimetric properties. Two different sorbents with different separation chemistries: SCX (Strong Cation Exchange) and C18 sorbents were evaluated. Red cabbage anthocyanins were fractionated and eluted from the SCX cartridge using combinations of different buffers (pH 6-8) and MeOH (20-70%) or eluted from the C18 cartridge using different percentages of acidified (0.01% HCl) MeOH (30-100%) or EtOH (10-100%). With SCX SPE, washing the loaded pigments with a mixture of buffer pH 6 + 20% MeOH followed by elution with buffer pH 8 + 70% MeOH proved most effective in segregating the di-acylated pigments; however, some anthocyanins were permanently retained by the sorbent. When using the C18 cartridge, washing bound pigments with 32% MeOH or 18.5% EtOH and eluting with 100% alcohol respectively resulted in high (> 93%) recovery of di-acylated pigments. The C18 cartridge with MeOH eluent was the most effective for isolating the target di-acylated red cabbage anthocyanins that produced desirable blue colors with increased stability.

Molar absorptivity (ε) and spectral characteristics of cyanidin-based anthocyanins from red cabbage.

Red cabbage extract contains mono and di-acylated cyanidin (Cy) anthocyanins and is often used as food colorants. Our objectives were to determine the molar absorptivity (ε) of different red cabbage Cy-derivatives and to evaluate their spectral behaviors in acidified methanol (MeOH) and buffers pH 1-9. Major red cabbage anthocyanins were isolated using a semi-preparatory HPLC, dried and weighed. Pigments were dissolved in MeOH and diluted with either MeOH (0.1% HCl) or buffers to obtain final concentrations between 5×10(-5) and 1×10(-3) mol/L. Spectra were recorded and ε calculated using Lambert-Beer's law. The ε in acidified MeOH and buffer pH 1 ranged between ~16,000-30,000 and ~13,000-26,000 L/mol cm, respectively. Most pigments showed higher ε in pH 8 than pH 2, and lowest ε between pH 4 and 6. There were bathochromic shifts (81-105 nm) from pH 1 to 8 and hypsochromic shifts from pH 8 to 9 (2-19 nm). Anthocyanins molecular structures and the media were important variables which greatly influenced their ε and spectral behaviors.

Anthocyanins contents, profiles, and color characteristics of red cabbage extracts from different cultivars and maturity stages.

Red cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.) is an excellent source of food colorant. This study aimed to evaluate the anthocyanin pigment contents and profiles from seven red cabbage cultivars at two maturity stages (8 weeks apart) and evaluate their color characteristics and behavior under acidic and neutral pH. Anthocyanin concentrations ranged from 1111 to 1780 mg Cy3G/100 g DM and did not increase with time. Cultivar and maturation affected pigment profile. Some varieties accumulated ≥30% of diacylated pigments, and proportions of monoacylated pigments decreased with time. Extracts from selected varieties at first harvesting time produced colors similar (λmax = 520 nm and ΔE = 6.1-8.8) to FD&C Red No. 3 at pH 3.5. At pH 7, extracts from the second harvest with s higher proportion of diacylation produced λmax ≃ 610 nm, similar to FD&C Blue No. 2. Cultivar selection and maturation affected color and stability of red cabbage extracts at different pH values.