Preparation, characterization and stability investigation of lycopene-chitooligosaccharides complexes

Abstract

The application of lycopene has been increased in the food industry as well as in medicine. However, lycopene is unstable, sensitive to the oxidation and degrades under the exposure to high temperature, light and extreme pH. A new lycopene delivery system was developed by complexing lycopene with chitooligosaccharides. The complexes were prepared by sonication, freeze-drying and kneading methods. The sonication and freeze-drying resulted in the best characteristics of complexes. The solubility of complexes prepared by those methods was 10.8–12.9 mg/mL, while the solubility of complexes obtained by kneading was 2.8–2.9 mg/mL. The size of particles prepared by kneading, freeze-drying and sonication was in the range of 358–400, 75.9–84.1 and 102–105 nm, respectively. The stability of complexes under different conditions, i.e., in the dark at 4 and 24 °C, in the light at 24 °C and under UVC irradiation in the dark at 24 °C was evaluated. The antioxidant activity of complexes and chitooligosaccharides was also determined. The complexation of lycopene with chitooligosaccharides extends the possibility for its application in the development of functional food.