Properties of chalconaringenin and rutin isolated from cherry tomatoes

Fresh cherry tomatoes cv. 'Susanne' contain more of the two flavonoids chalconaringenin (CN) and rutin than lycopene. Therefore some properties including antioxidant behavior of the flavonoids were studied. The two flavonoids were extracted from peel and isolated by use of different chromatographic methods. Molecular absorbtivities were found to be 26907 for CN and 20328 abs M(-1) cm(-1) for rutin. Both compounds exhibited properties as antioxidants through several assays, and rutin was found to be the strongest antioxidant except in one assay. None of the assays revealed pro-oxidative effects. As naringenin rather than CN is frequently reported as a tomato constituent, the stability of CN was investigated in order to detect potential ways of isomerization during sample preparation. CN isomerized slowly both under UVB radiation and in alkaline solutions. Thus, such factors do not explain the occurrence of naringenin in tomato samples. The deficiency in reports on CN may be explained by the similarity in chromatographic behaviors of CN and naringenin, and due to the fact that they have same molecular weights.