E163 represents a group of colours on the European food additives list, the anthocyanins.

Anthocyanins  is a group of natural dyes extracted from plants and fruit berries.

What it is used for and where

Food

They are a class of rather bright dyes, glycosylated flavonoid pigments that have predominantly red, orange, purple and blue colors. They are considered as naturally biosynthetic in plants through a subsequent conversion of flavanones.

They are also responsible for different plant functions, such as attracting pollinating insects into the petals, favoring seed dispersal (1).

They act as a photoprotective screen against damage from ultraviolet rays (2).

They are included in the list of European food additives as colours:

• E163a cyanidin - red
• E163b delphinidin  - blue
• E163c malvidin - purple 
• E163d pelargonidin - orange 
• E163e peonidin . red-brown
• E163f petunidin - dark red
• E163(i) grape peel extract 
• E163(ii) anthocyan mixture 
• E163(iii) black current extract

Cosmetics

Colorant. This ingredient has the primary function of colouring the solution in which it is inserted in a temporary, semi-permanent or permanent manner, either alone or in the presence of the complementary components added for colouring.

Safety

They are subject to chemical degradation.

"Anthocyanins, studies" 

Molecular Formula  C₁₅H₁₁O⁺

Molecular Weight  207.252 g/mol

CAS  11029-12-2

References________________________________________________________________________

(1) Landi M., Tattini M., Gould K. S. (2015). Mutiple functional roles of anthocyanins in plant-environment interactions. Environ. Exp. Bot. 119 4–17. 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2015

(2) Winkel-Shirley B. (2001). Flavonoid biosynthesis. A colourful model for genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, and biotechnology. Plant Physiol. 126 485–493.