Analyses of polyphenols in cacao liquor, cocoa, and chocolate by normal-phase and reversed-phase HPLC.
The antioxidant polyphenols in cacao liquor, a major ingredient of chocolate and cocoa, have been characterized as flavan-3-ols and proanthocyanidin oligomers. In this study, various cacao products were analyzed by normal-phase HPLC, and the profiles and quantities of the polyphenols present, grouped by molecular size (monomers to approximately oligomers), were compared. Individual cacao polyphenols, flavan-3-ols (catechin and epicatechin), and dimeric (procyanidin B2), trimeric (procyanidin C1), and tetrameric (cinnamtannin A2) proanthocyanidins, and galactopyranosyl-ent-(-)-epicatechin (2alpha-->7, 4alpha-->8)-(-)-epicatechin (Gal-EC-EC), were analyzed by reversed-phase HPLC and/or HPLC/MS. The profile of monomers (catechins) and proanthocyanidin in dark chocolate was similar to that of cacao liquor, while the ratio of flavan-3-ols to the total amount of monomeric and oligomeric polyphenols in the case of pure cocoa powder was higher than that in the case of cacao liquor or chocolate.
Natsume
M
M
Functional Foods R&D Laboratory, Meiji Seika Kaisha Ltd., Saitama, Japan. midori_natsume@meiji.co.jp
Osakabe
N
N
Yamagishi
M
M
Takizawa
T
T
Nakamura
T
T
Miyatake
H
H
Hatano
T
T
Yoshida
T
T
D000872:Anthocyanins / Q000032:analysis; D044946:Biflavonoids; D002099:Cacao / Q000737:chemistry*; D002392:Catechin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D005419:Flavonoids; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods; D005690:Galactose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D010636:Phenols / Q000032:analysis*; D011108:Polymers / Q000032:analysis*; D044945:Proanthocyanidins; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D000872:Anthocyanins; D044946:Biflavonoids; D005419:Flavonoids; D010636:Phenols; D011108:Polymers; D044945:Proanthocyanidins; C425558:cinnamtannin A2; C425559:galactopyranosylepicatechin (2-7,4-8)epicatechin; C013221:proanthocyanidin; C479580:procyanidin B2; C017674:procyanidin; D002392:Catechin; D005690:Galactose