Synthesis of maltodextrin-grafted-cinnamic acid and evaluation on its ability to stabilize anthocyanins via microencapsulation.

In this work, maltodextrin-grafted-cinnamic acid (MD-g-CA) was synthesised and used as wall material to improve the stability of purple sweet potato anthocyanins (PSPa) via microencapsualtion. MD-g-CA was prepared through esterification in a two-step convenient synthesis procedure and characterised using infra-red (IR) spectroscopy. The IR data indicated the typical ester carbonyl stretching at around 1721 cm-1. Moreover, MD-g-CA could give about 40% inhibition of DPPH radical and present excellent UV-absorption, which were notably better than that of native MD. Maltodextrin (MD) and MD-g-CA were used to prepare PSPa microcapsules by spray drying. The stability of PSPa was evaluated by UV-Vis analysis. The microcapsules produced by MD-g-CA showed a spheres-like appearance with some cracks. Storage tests revealed that the degradation rate of PSPa embedded by MD-g-CA was much lower than that of free PSPa under the same condition. Thus, MD-g-CA could be used as an effective wall material to improve stability of anthocyanins.