Abstract
Natural phenol and phenolic acids are widely distributed in the plant kingdom and the major dietary sources include fruits and beverages derived therefrom. Over the past decades, these compounds have been widely investigated for their beneficial effects on human health and, at the same time, several analytical methods have been developed for their determination in these matrices. In the present paper, 19 different aromatic carboxylic acids and phenols were characterized by GC-MS using ethyl chloroformate as the derivatizing agent. This procedure occurs quickly at room temperature and takes place in aqueous media simultaneously with the extraction step in the presence of ethanol using pyridine as a catalyst. The analytical method herein developed and validated presents excellent linearity in a wide concentration range (25–3000 ng/mL), low LOQ (in the range 25–100 ng/mL) and LOD (in the range 12.5–50 ng/mL), and good accuracy and precision. As a proof of concept, ethyl chloroformate derivatization was successfully applied to the analysis of a selection of commercial fruit juices (berries, grape, apple, pomegranate) particularly rich in phenolic compounds. Some of these juices are made up of a single fruit, whereas others are blends of several fruits. Our results show that among the juices analyzed, those containing cranberry have a total concentration of the free aromatic carboxylic acids and phenols tested up to 15 times higher than other juices.
Highlights
Natural phenolic compounds comprise several bioactive phenols and phenolic acids whose benefits to human health are widely described [1,2]
Aromatic carboxylic acids and phenols are widely distributed in nature and the major dietary sources include fruits, cereals, and legumes, as well as beverages [7,8]
We developed a fast analytical method for the determination of free aromatic carboxylic acids and phenols in a selection of commercial fruit juices by using ethyl chloroformate as the derivatizing agent
Summary
Natural phenolic compounds comprise several bioactive phenols and phenolic acids whose benefits to human health are widely described [1,2]. Aromatic carboxylic acids and phenols are widely distributed in nature and the major dietary sources include fruits, cereals, and legumes, as well as beverages (coffee, tea, wine, and fruit juices) [7,8]. They can be found in plants as free aglycones and bound to sugars, organic acids, and polymers mainly as esters and ethers. From a structural point of view, phenolic acids contain a phenyl ring and a carboxylic acid moiety and are generally classified as benzoic acid or cinnamic acid derivatives Given these basic skeletons, the number and position of hydroxyl groups generate the array of the naturally occurring phenolic acids [9,10,11,12,13]
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