High performance liquid chromatographic analysis of phenolic compounds and their antioxidant activities in rice varieties

The analytical method for the determination of phenolic compounds in rice varieties was developed. The method consisted of extraction of phenolic compounds from rice before analysis by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Reversed phase HPLC equipped with photodiode array detection was used and the separation condition was optimized. Under the optimum condition, twelve phenolic compounds were separated within 24 min. Pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) was used to extract free phenolic compounds from rice with the optimum extraction condition of 70% methanol and extraction time of 15 min. While, bound phenolic compounds were extracted using alkaline hydrolysis for 15 min. Six varieties of Thai rice including pigment and non-pigment rice in their brown and polished forms were investigated. All of 12 phenolic compounds were detected as free phenolic compounds in all samples. Ferulic acid was the most abundant free phenolic compounds in all samples, while ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid were found as bound phenolic compounds in some samples. The content of phenolic compounds, total flavonoid and antioxidant activity detected in pigment rice and brown form were higher than non-pigment rice and polished form. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.