Welcome to Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin,

Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2015, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (36): 254-258.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb15070143

Special Issue: 园艺

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Progress of Extracting Techniques of Betalains

Wu Zedong1,2,3, Hu Xiaohang1,2,3, Wu Yumei1,2,3, Liu Naixin1,2,3, Ma Longbiao1,2,3   

  1. (1Heilongjiang University/ Laboratory of Quality & Safety Risk Assessment for Sugar Crops Products, Ministry of Agriculture, Harbin 150080;2Key Laboratory of Sugar Beet Genetic Breeding, Harbin 150080;3Crop Academy of Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080)
  • Received:2015-07-24 Revised:2015-08-20 Accepted:2015-08-25 Online:2015-12-30 Published:2015-12-30

Abstract: Betalain is a kind of water-soluble pigment, widely available in red beet dominant Caryophyllales. Since betalain has wonderfully potential application in fields of food and pharmaceuticals, it is very important to establish a rapid, efficient and environment-friendly extraction process. This paper introduces both the conventional betalain extraction techniques and the research progress of up-to-date extraction techniques, and points out some disadvantages of the traditional methods caused by heating and addition of organic solvents, such as easy degradation of betalain, solvent contamination and low productivity. However, as the representatives of the latest extraction technologies, gamma radiation, pulsed electric field, ultrasound-assisted extraction, supercritical extraction and membrane processing can extract pigments without heating, and has such advantages as environmental protection, security, good consistency and high rate of recovery. In conclusion, it points out that every step of the extraction process should be refined and the standard for extraction should be established no matter which new technology is applied in the future.

CLC Number: