Z-Isomers of lycopene exhibit greater bioavailability and potentially have higher biological activity than its predominant isomer, (all-E)-lycopene. Thus, the development of efficient and practicable isomerization methods is required. Here, we constructed a continuous-flow system for Z-isomerization of (all-E)-lycopene via subcritical ethyl acetate. Continuous high-temperature processing efficiently accelerated the Z-isomerization in a short time, but at the same time, a large amount of lycopene was degraded. To inhibit lycopene degradation, antioxidants were added to the process and the effects were studied. Moreover, in an effort to further enhance the Z-isomerization efficiency, a natural Z-isomerization-accelerating catalyst, allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), was added to the process. The results clearly showed that antioxidants, especially α-tocopherol (α-TC), inhibited the thermal degradation of lycopene, and AITC enhanced the Z-isomerization efficiency. Finally, we achieved over 80% of the total Z-isomer ratio in only 30 s, while inhibiting lycopene degradation.

番茄红素的Z-异构体比其主要异构体（全E）-番茄红素具有更高的生物利用度，并可能具有更高的生物活性。因此，需要开发高效可行的异构化方法。在这里，我们构建了一个连续流动系统，用于通过亚临界乙酸乙酯对 (all- E )-番茄红素进行Z-异构化。连续的高温处理在短时间内有效地加速了Z-异构化，但同时大量的番茄红素被降解。为了抑制番茄红素降解，在该过程中添加了抗氧化剂并研究了其效果。此外，为了进一步提高Z-异构化效率，一种天然的Z-异构化加速催化剂，异硫氰酸烯丙酯（AITC），被添加到该过程中。结果清楚地表明抗氧化剂，尤其是α-生育酚（α-TC），抑制了番茄红素的热降解，而AITC提高了Z-异构化效率。最后，我们仅在 30 秒内就达到了总Z异构体比例的80% 以上，同时抑制了番茄红素的降解。