Thermal Kinetic Degradation of Betanin and Betalamic Acid

An investigation was undertaken with the aim of suggesting the kinetic model concerning the degradation of the red beet major pigment betanin to betalamic acid and the degradation of the latter to cleavage products. By using nonlinear least-squares technique, the formulated model was verified against the experimental data. The degradation of both pigments followed a first-order reaction (with energy of activation of 20.4 and 20.7 kcal/mol for betanin and betalamic acid, respectively). In addition, betalamic acid was one order of magnitude more thermally stable than betanin.