Studies on suppression and prevention of active oxygen generation and discoloration of chlorophyll in green food by light irradiation

众所周知，绿茶和蔬菜中的绿色色素叶绿素在光照射下会变色。这项研究的目的是防止叶绿素在光的作用下变色。首先，我们考察了抗氧化剂的作用。结果，像生育酚这样的疏水抗氧化剂阻止了叶绿素的一点点变色，但没有导致碱性溶液。另一方面，叶绿素通过溶剂和共存物质形成聚集体。叶绿素与与叶绿素结构相似的叶绿素铜钠相互作用，水-甲醇混合溶剂的富水条件产生叶绿素与叶绿素铜钠的混合聚集。这些都可以减少光照射对叶绿素的伤害。

It is known that chlorophyll which is a green pigment in green tea and vegetables discolors by light irradiation. The purpose of this study is to prevent the discoloration of chlorophyll by light. At first, we examined the effect of antioxidants. As a result, hydrophobic antioxidants like tocopherol prevented a little discoloration of chlorophyll, but did not lead to basic solution. On the other hand, it turned out that chlorophyll formed aggregate by solvent and coexistence substance. Chlorophyll interacted with sodium copper chlorophyllin which is similar structure as chlorophyll, and the water-rich condition of the water-methanol mixture solvent produced the mixture aggregation of chlorophyll and sodium copper chlorophyllin. These were suggested to reduce the damage by light irradiation of chlorophyll.