Extraction Systems and Analytical Techniques for Food Phenolic Compounds: A Review

Area of Science:

• * Food Science and Technology
• * Analytical Chemistry
• * Phytochemistry

Background:

• * Phenolic compounds are vital natural bioactive and antioxidant molecules with broad industrial applications.
• * Efficient extraction and robust analytical methods are crucial for obtaining and standardizing phenolic-rich extracts.
• * Novel methodologies are needed to characterize phenolic compounds, address safety concerns, and enable applications in omics studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To review current extraction techniques for recovering phenolic compounds from food and agri-food by-products.
• * To provide an overview of analytical characterization methods for phenolic compounds.
• * To highlight the role of these methodologies in plant chemotyping, food traceability, and omics research.

Main Methods:

• * Review of liquid-liquid extraction, solid-liquid extraction (including intensification technologies), and solid-phase extraction.
• * Overview of characterization techniques: UV-Vis, infra-red, nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, and ion mobility spectrometry.
• * Discussion of methods coupled or not coupled to chromatography.

Main Results:

• * A comprehensive range of extraction and characterization methodologies are available for phenolic compounds.
• * These methods can be applied individually or in combination to yield complementary data.
• * Multivariate analysis aids in plant chemotyping and food traceability using phenolic compound profiles.

Conclusions:

• * The study provides a roadmap for selecting and applying appropriate methodologies for phenolic compound research.
• * Optimized extraction and analysis are essential for the industrial utilization of phenolic compounds.
• * Advances in methodologies support the elucidation of phenolic compound structures and their biological roles.