Carotenoid:β-cyclodextrin stability is independent of pigment structure.

Abstract

Carotenoids refer to a wide class of lipophilic pigments synthesized by plants, exert photoprotective and antioxidant properties that are lost upon carotenoid degradation. Their inclusion into hydrophilic host-molecules could improve their stability. Cyclodextrins, provide a hydrophobic cavity in the core of their structure while the outer configuration is suitable with aqueous environments. Carotenoids can accommodate into the hydrophobic core of cyclodextrins and therefore, they are protected from exogenous stress. Literature reported that carotenoid structure could modulate stability of the complexes, however no conclusions can be drawn as the studies performed so far were not completely analogous. We describe the synthesis of several carotenoids/β-CDs inclusion complexes and provide experimental evidences that β-CDs inclusion renders these compounds more stability towards the oxidizing agents (2,2'-azobis, 2-methylpropionamidine dihydrochloride and hydrogen peroxide). Esterified carotenoids were also used in this work to screen the influence of this particular structural configuration of xanthophylls against oxidation.