Predicting anthocyanins' isothermal and non-isothermal degradation with the endpoints method

Abstract

The thermal degradation of anthocyanins in a variety of media and over a large temperature range is known to follow first-order kinetics, and the temperature-dependence of the exponential rate constant a two-parameter model. These parameters can be estimated from the initial and final concentrations of only two isothermal or non-isothermal heat treatments by numerically solving a pair of simultaneous equations of which they are the two unknowns. Once calculated they can be used to reconstruct the entire degradation curves and predict those of other heat treatments in a pertinent temperature range. Commercial mathematical software can do the calculations, as demonstrated with computer simulations and published data on the isothermal and non-isothermal degradation of anthocyanins. The endpoints method’s predictions were confirmed by comparison to the reported experimentally determined final concentrations. Where applicable, the method will eliminate the need to record sets of whole isothermal degradation curves in studies of the kinetics of anthocyanins' degradation.