Study on the stability of anthocyanins from leaves of Perilla frutescens

Perilla frutescens is a dual-purpose plant which could be used for food and medicine. Being abundant in anthocyanins, Perilla frutescens could be widely used in many industries. With the increasing demand in natural colorant, anthocyanins from leaves of Perilla frutescens would be a good source of it. This paper studied the effect of light, metal ions, pH and temperature on the stability of anthocyanins from leaves of Perilla frutescens. Anthocyanins could not tolerate high temperature. It could be relatively stable under light. But long-time lighting still damaged anthocyanins. pH had a significant effect on its stability and it was stable in pH 2 ⁴ solution. Most metal ions had no effect on anthocyanins.However, Cu2 +, Fe3 +significantly had a bad effect on it. Besides, Results showed that reductant-oxidant, sodium benzoate and vitamin C had a degradation effect on anthocyanins from leaves of Perilla frutescens.