Ranking the efficacies of selected red wine phenolic anti-oxidants using reversed-phase HPLC

摘要

Several studies have assessed total anti-oxidant activity of wine or individual components in isolation using chemical-based assays. In this study, a quantitative approach was developed to assess the relative anti-oxidant efficacies of selected red wine phenolics via peak reduction, using reversed-phase HPLC. Both intact red wine and phenolic standard solutions were challenged with five oxidant model systems as follows: (1) hydrogen peroxide (H2O2); redox-active metal ions (2) Fe3+ and (3) Cu2+; and the Fenton reagents (4) H2O2 + Fe2+; and (5) H2O2 + Cu+. Treatment with oxidants (1–3) resulted in loss of 47–60% of phenolic standards, which increased to 66–89% for treatment with the Fenton systems, with quercetin exhibiting the optimal anti-oxidant activity. For intact red wine, treatment with oxidants (1–3) led to all phenolic compounds being oxidised (27–77% loss), with caffeic acid and quercetin as the most effective anti-oxidants. For both Fenton systems (4–5), activities in red wine were considerably enhanced for caffeic acid and quercetin, which exhibited the highest anti-oxidant efficacies with 100% peak reduction, while p-coumaric acid and gallic acid were less effective anti-oxidants with peak reductions of 60–68%. The ranking, facilitated by this new quantitative approach, allows comparison of the individual efficacies of the anti-oxidants in a complex matrix.