There is a growing demand in the food industry for natural food products to replace synthetic ingredients. Motivated by this fact, the present work studied the extraction of coloring compounds from Bougainvillea spectabilis under aqueous and ethanolic conditions, and the encapsulation of the extract in alginate beads. Ethanolic extraction was more efficient as reflected by the higher values for total phenols (6.78 ± 0.24 mg EAG/g), betacyanins (5.04 ± 0.13 mg/g), betaxanthines (1.35 ± 0.06 mg/g,) and inhibition capacity (81.31 ± 4.23%). FTIR analysis suggested the presence of interactions between the extract and the alginate chains. The release kinetics of compounds in alginate beads was measured under aqueous and ethanolic conditions at 25.0 °C and at 70.0 °C. Color was also monitored, showing that the color parameters followed a kinetics pattern similar to the released extract. However, the release of betalains exhibited a mixed behavior, reflecting interactions between the different compounds of the bougainvillea extract and the alginate chains. The extracts released from the beads were characterized to determine the preservation of their properties during encapsulation, concluding that the encapsulation is efficient to protect and release the bioactive compounds from bougainvillea extracts.

Acacia farnesiana is a shrub widely distributed in soils heavily polluted with arsenic in Mexico. However, the mechanisms by which this species tolerates the phytotoxic effects of arsenic are unknown. This study aimed to investigate the tolerance and bioaccumulation of As by A. farnesiana seedlings exposed to high doses of arsenate (AsV) and the role of peroxidases (POX) and glutathione S-transferases (GST) in alleviating As-stress. For that, long-period tests were performed in vitro under different AsV treatments. A. farnesiana showed a remarkable tolerance to AsV, achieving a half-inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of about 2.8 mM. Bioaccumulation reached about 940 and 4380 mg As·kg⁻¹ of dry weight in shoots and roots, respectively, exposed for 60 days to 0.58 mM AsV. Seedlings exposed to such conditions registered a growth delay during the first 15 days, when the fastest As uptake rate (117 mg kg⁻¹ day⁻¹) occurred, coinciding with both the highest rate of lipid peroxidation and the strongest up-regulation of enzyme activities. GST activity showed a strong correlation with the As bioaccumulated, suggesting its role in imparting AsV tolerance. This study demonstrated that besides tolerance to AsV, A. farnesiana bioaccumulates considerable amounts of As, suggesting that it may be useful for phytostabilization purposes.