Rice bran (RB) corresponds to the outer layers of whole grain rice and contains several phenolic compounds (PCs) that make it an interesting functional food ingredient. PC richness is enhanced in pigmented RB varieties and requires effective ways of extraction of these compounds. Therefore, we investigated conventional and deep eutectic solvents (DES) extraction methods to recover a wide array of PCs from red and black RB. The RB were extracted with ethanol/water (60:40, v/v) and two DES (choline chloride/1.2-propanediol/water, 1:1:1 and choline chloride/lactic acid, 1:10, mole ratios), based on Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) components. Besides the quantification of the most typical phenolic acids of cereals, nontargeted metabolomic approaches were applied to PCs profiling in the extracts. Globally, metabolomics revealed 89 PCs belonging to flavonoids (52%), phenolic acids (33%), other polyphenols (8%), lignans (6%) and stilbenes (1%) classes. All extracts, whatever the solvents, were highly concentrated in the main phenolic acids found in cereals (37-66 mg/100 g in black RB extracts vs. 6-20 mg/100 g in red RB extracts). However, the PC profile was highly dependent on the extraction solvent and specific PCs were extracted using the acidic DES. The PC-enriched DES extracts demonstrated interesting DPPH scavenging activity, which makes them candidates for novel antioxidant formulations.
Keywords: UPLC-MSE; antioxidant; green solvent; metabolomics; phenolic compounds; pigmented rice bran.