Purification and structural analysis of anthocyanins from litchi pericarp

Litchi fruit peel anthocyanins were extracted with 0.5 M HCl, and then purified by an Amberlite XAD-7 column and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. The major part of the anthocyanins of litchi pericarp, which (94.3% of total), was obtained. Furthermore, the partially purified anthocyanin was identified as cyanindin-3-rutinoside, with a molecular weight of 595, using HPLC equipped with mass spectrometry. The results corroborate the previous observation of Zhang, Pang, Ji, and Jiang (2001 Food Chemistry, 75, 217–221), who suggested that nonenzymatic degradation of anthocyanins could participate in postharvest browning of litchi pericarp.