The effect of the postharvest treatment of methyl jasmonate enantiomers in conjunction with ethanol on bioformation of resveratrol and quercetin glycosides in grapes was evaluated. The antioxidant activity of treated grape extracts as compared with untreated extracts was also assayed. Exogenous (-)-methyl jasmonate in combination with ethanol induced a significant increase in the levels of resveratrol (from 27 to 39 μg g(-1)), quercetin-3-O-glucoside (from 59 to 136 μg g(-1)), quercetin-3-O-galactoside (from 398 to 807 μg g(-1)) and quercetin-3-O-rutinoside (from 23 to 43 μg g(-1)). (+)-Methyl jasmonate with ethanol also resulted in increase of quercetin-3-O-glucoside and quercetin-3-O-rutinoside. However, no (+)-methyl jasmonate effect was observed for resveratrol and quercetin-3-O-galactoside. Both (-)- and (+)-methyl jasmonate treatments provided with extracts with higher antioxidant activity. From the results found in the present work postharvest treatment with (-)-methyl jasmonate in conjunction with ethanol is proposed as a mean to obtain polyphenol-enriched grape extracts with improved antioxidant properties. The procedure here developed is proposed as a mean to obtain functional grapes. Extracts obtained from grapes treated with (-)-methyl jasmonate with ethanol can be particularly useful for industry due to their high antioxidant capacity.
Keywords: Enantiomers; Functional foods; Grapes; Methyl jasmonate; Quercetin; Resveratrol.