Progress on molecular modification and functional applications of anthocyanins

Abstract

Anthocyanins have attracted a lot of attention in the fields of natural pigments, food packaging, and functional foods due to their color, antioxidant, and nutraceutical properties. However, the poor chemical stability and low bioavailability of anthocyanins currently limit their application in the food industry. Various methods can be used to modify the structure of anthocyanins and thus improve their stability and bioavailability characteristics under food processing, storage, and gastrointestinal conditions. This paper aims to review in vitro modification methods for altering the molecular structure of anthocyanins, as well as their resulting improved properties such as color, stability, solubility, and antioxidant properties, and functional applications as pigments, sensors and functional foods. In industrial production, by mixing co-pigments with anthocyanins in food systems, the color and stability of anthocyanins can be improved by using non-covalent co-pigmentation. By acylation of fatty acids and aromatic acids with anthocyanins before incorporation into food systems, the surface activity of anthocyanins can be activated and their antioxidant and bioactivity can be improved. Various other chemical modification methods, such as methylation, glycosylation, and the formation of pyranoanthocyanins, can also be utilized to tailor the molecular properties of anthocyanins expanding their range of applications in the food industry.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Anthocyanins
• co-pigmentation
• glycosylation
• acylation
• chemical modification

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the medical staff who worked on the front line during the COVID-19 pandemic and the editors and reviewers who reviewed our work.

Disclosure statement

No conflicts of interest are declared for any of the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province – China [BK20200617], National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 32101990], National Key Research and Development Program of China – China [No. 2022YFD2100602], and the Collaborative Innovation Center of Food Safety and Quality Control in Jiangsu Province, Jiangnan University [2022-1-1].