Antioxidative properties of phenolic antioxidants isolated from corn steep liquor

With the immersion of corn into dilute sulfur oxide during starch-manufacturing processes, corn steep liquor (CSL) remains as leftover material. CSL is often used for fermentation, but its components are not fully understood. To determine the properties of CSL, 12 p-coumaric acid-related compounds were isolated from an ethyl acetate extract of CSL with the guidance of antioxidative activity on the rabbit erythrocyte membrane ghost system. The activity of these compounds was compared against oxidative damages, and it was elucidated that the activity of p-coumaric acid derivatives was mainly affected by their functional groups at the 3-position and less by the conjugated side chain. Moreover, p-coumaric acid derivatives exhibited inhibitory activity stronger than that of tocopherols and ascorbic acid on peroxynitrite-mediated lipoprotein nitration. These findings that p-coumaric acid derivatives, which might play a beneficial role against oxidative damage, exist in CSL suggest this byproduct might be a useful resource of phenolic antioxidants.