Abstract
The effect of parabens on the shelf-life of crocetin esters and picrocrocin in aqueous saffron solutions was studied. Degradation of saffron crocetin esters fits a first-order kinetics model, and the results indicated that the crocetin (β-d-glucosyl)-(β-d-gentiobiosyl) esters were more stable than the crocetin di-(β-d-gentiobiosyl) esters regardless of whether trans and cis isomers were considered. Under all tested conditions both parabens gave good results, especially propyl paraben that showed a greater influence on the degradation rate constant, except for cis-crocetin di-(β-d-gentiobiosyl) ester and cis-crocetin (β-d-glucosyl)-(β-d-gentiobiosyl) ester. In presence of propyl paraben (200 mg/L), the half-life periods of trans-crocetin di-(β-d-gentiobiosyl) ester improved considerably, up to four-fold. Special attention has been paid to the effect of propyl paraben on 46 saffrons with different crocetin ester contents. No differences were observed in terms of picrocrocin. By analysis of variance, it is noteworthy that there were differences between the mean content of crocetin esters for all analysed saffron, except for trans-crocetin (β-d-glucosyl)-(β-d-gentiobiosyl) ester.
Highlights
When the carotenoids reduce their size, eliminating terminal groups from the molecule, they are known as apocarotenoids, the group to which the saffron pigments belong to
The crocetin esters deteriorate quickly in aqueous extracts and several kinetic studies have shown that colour degradation follows first-order kinetics; it is sensitive to exposure to light, thermal treatment, and acidic environments, as well as to the presence of additives [3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
All crocetin esters followed a first-order kinetic model confirming the data reported in the literature
Summary
When the carotenoids reduce their size, eliminating terminal groups from the molecule, they are known as apocarotenoids, the group to which the saffron pigments belong to. Derivatives of an apocarotenoid, called crocetin (C44H64O24, 8,8 ́-diapo- , ́-carotenedioic acid), in which it is esterified with one or two glucose, gentibiose or neapolitanose sugar moieties, are present in Crocus sativus L. stigmas and Gardenia jasminoides Ellis fruit and are commonly known as crocetin esters [1]. These compounds are known for their colouring properties, owing to their peculiar water soluble behaviour, in contrast to most families of carotenoids. It would be very interesting to lengthen the life of saffron aqueous extracts to avoid the fast oxidation of crocetin esters
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