Distribution, antioxidant and characterisation of phenolic compounds in soybeans, flaxseed and olives

The distribution of free and bound phenolic compounds present in soybean, flaxseed and olive were investigated. The phenolic compounds were fractionated on the basis on their solubility characteristics in water, alcohol, dilute base and dilute acid. Reversed phase high pressure liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS) were used for identification of individual components of phenolic compounds. Antioxidant activity (AA%) of free and bound phenolic compounds was measured using the linoleic acid/β-carotene assay. The water-soluble phenolic compound fractions represented 68-81%, 50-72% and 46-56% of the total phenolic compounds measured in full-fat soybean, olive and flaxseed, respectively. Methanolic extraction of free phenolic compounds without heat, solubilised 21-56%, 42-62% and 34-51% of the total phenolic compounds measured in soybean, olive and flaxseed, respectively; methanol extraction of free phenolic compounds with heat solubilised a further 24-34%, 31-37% and 36-37% of phenolic compounds from soybean, olive and flaxseed, respectively. Further dilute alkali and dilute acid solubilised the remaining 10-40%, 1-21% and 12-29% of the total phenolic compounds from soybean, olive and flaxseed, respectively. Results indicated that the full-fat meals of soybean, flaxseed and olive showed higher antioxidant activity compared to defatted meals. RP-HPLC and LC-MS/MS profil1 for soybean, flaxseed and olive indicate two classes of phenolic compounds designated as free and bound phenolic compounds.