Taking the six common anthocyanidins in nature, i.e. cyanidin, delphinidin, malvidin, pelargonidin, peonidin and petunidin, as examples, this paper summarized the main achievements about the structure-activity relationships of the coloration and stability of anthocyanidins. The coloration and stability of anthocyanidins are funda- mentally determined by the chemical and spatial structures of the anthocyanidins. The electron-deficient state, hydroxylation and methylation patterns, especially the ones on the B-ring, and coplanarity of the three rings of anthocyanidins are inde- pendently or synergetically, positively and/or negatively, influence the coloration and stability of the anthocyanidins. Thereinto, the in vivo colorations of anthocyanins are also related to the organ-selective and crystal- or anthocyanic vacuolar inclusion- related existence of the anthocyanidins. This review could provide a reference for the researches of the structure-optimizing and function-exploiting of anthocyanidins and also for the selection of the crops and cultivars containing specific anthocyani- din profiles.
