Antioxidants are compounds with large industrial applicationin the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, chemical and food sectors. Anthocyanins are thermosensitive natural pigments with important antioxidant and biofunctional action, and can be better preserved if kept encapsulated. This treatment can be performed by different techniques, among them spray-dying and lyophilization. The objective of this study was to determine the thermal profile of single samples (anthocyanins and gum arabic) and materials obtained by treatment with spray-drying and lyophilization and to evaluate the efficiency of each technique in the encapsulation of anthocyanins. All samples were analyzed by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The values of temperature and melting enthalpy for pure compounds and treated materials were also determined. The results showed the microparticles formation containing anthocyanins in the samples treated by spray-drying; and the thermograms obtained by DSC indicated the occurrence of encapsulation for these samples, being this result confirmed by SEM analyzes.
