Extraction and determination of ellagic acid contentin chestnut bark and fruit

S A Vekiari; M H Gordon; P García-Macías; H Labrinea

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.02.005

Extraction and determination of ellagic acid contentin chestnut bark and fruit

Food Chem. 2008 Oct 15;110(4):1007-11. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.02.005. Epub 2008 Feb 9.

Authors

S A Vekiari¹, M H Gordon², P García-Macías³, H Labrinea⁴

Affiliations

¹ National Agricultural Research Foundation, Institute of Technology of Agricultural Products, 1,S.Venizelou, Lykovrissi, GR-14123 Athens, Greece. Electronic address: vekir.itap@nagref.gr.
² School of Chemistry, Food Biosciences and Pharmacy, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, P.O. Box 226, Reading RG6AP, UK. Electronic address: m.h.gordon@reading.ac.uk.
³ School of Chemistry, Food Biosciences and Pharmacy, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, P.O. Box 226, Reading RG6AP, UK.
⁴ National Agricultural Research Foundation, Institute of Technology of Agricultural Products, 1,S.Venizelou, Lykovrissi, GR-14123 Athens, Greece.

PMID: 26047294
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.02.005

Abstract

Chestnuts are an important economic resource in the chestnut growing regions, not only for the fruit, but also for the wood. The content of ellagic acid (EA), a naturally occurring inhibitor of carcinogenesis, was determined in chestnut fruits and bark. EA was extracted with methanol and free ellagic acid was determined by HPLC with UV detection, both in the crude extract and after hydrolysis. The concentration of EA was generally increased after hydrolysis due to the presence of ellagitannins in the crude extract. The concentration varied between 0.71 and 21.6mgg(-1) (d.w.) in un-hydrolyzed samples, and between 2.83 and 18.4mgg(-1) (d.w.) in hydrolyzed samples. In chestnut fruits, traces of EA were present in the seed, with higher concentrations in the pellicle and pericarp. However, all fruit tissues had lower concentrations of EA than had the bark. The concentration of EA in the hydrolyzed samples showed a non-linear correlation with the concentration in the unhydrolyzed extracts.

Keywords: Chestnut bark; Chestnut fruit; Ellagic acid; HPLC.