Mass spectrometric detection of products of decarboxy-betanins UV-irradiation

Betalains are a group of natural plant pigments, responsible for red-violet colour of numerous flowers, fruits and roots. They commonly occur in order of Caryophyllales (Caryophyllales). Recent studies revealed great health promoting properties of these pigments, but their natural origin make them very labile under various physicochemical conditions. In the case of betanin degradation, many new, decarboxy-betanins are formed. Latest study showed that UV-irradiation had significant impact on betanin stability, however, no deeper studies were performed in this field. In order to know an impact of the process conditions on degradation of betanin and its decarboxylated derivatives, series of experiments with UV-photo-irradiation was performed in aqueous solutions as well as in various organic solvents at wide range of pH. The highest pigment stability was observed in aqueous solutions for betanin and 17-decarboxybetanin at pH 4.5–7, and for 2,17-didecarboxybetanin at low pH. In all investigated organic solutions, all of the studied compounds have been degraded. The LC-DAD-ESI-MS analysis identified new reaction products. The results showed that UV-photo-irradiation leads mainly to a formation of many new and various 14,15-dehydrobetanins