A novel pigment, named gardecin, has been isolated from gardenia fruits, together with another five known crocins. The pigment, which possessed a structure which is unique among crocins, was characterised using spectrometric techniques, particularly ID and 2D NMR. The NMR assignments were based on data from H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, DEPT, H-1-H-1 COSY, NOESY, HMQC and HMBC measurements. The five known crocins were identified on the basis of MS, UV/visible and ID NMR data. Chemical stability and antioxidant ability of gardecin in comparison with the other five crocins were studied. The stronger DPPH free radical-scavenging ability of gardecin compared, with the other crocins, was observed. Kinetic studies have shown that all crocins were unstable under various conditions, but surprisingly gardecin was fairly stable. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.