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The Rosmarinus officinalis L. is widely known for its numerous applications in the food field but also for the increasing interest in its pharmaceutical properties. Two groups of compounds are mainly responsible for the biological activities of the plant: the volatile fraction and the phenolic constituents. The latter group is mainly constituted by rosmarinic acid, by a flavonoidic fraction and by some diterpenoid compounds structurally derived from the carnosic acid. The aim of our work was to optimize the extractive and analytical procedure for the determination of all the phenolic constituents. Moreover the chemical stability of the main phenols, depending on the storage condition, the different drying procedures and the extraction solvent, have been evaluated. This method allowed to detect up to 29 different constituents at the same time in a relatively short time. The described procedure has the advantage to being able to detect and quantify several classes of compounds, among them numerous minor flavonoids, thus contributing to improving knowledge of the plant. The findings from this study have demonstrated that storing the raw fresh material in the freezer is not appropriate for rosemary, mainly due to the rapid disappearing of the rosmarinic acid during the freezing/thawing process. Regarding the flavonoidic fraction, consistent decrements, were highlighted in the dried samples at room temperature if compared with the fresh leaf. Rosmarinic acid, appeared very sensitive also to mild drying processes. The total diterpenoidic content undergoes to little changes when the leaves are freeze dried or frozen and limited losses are observed working on dried leaves at room temperature. Nevertheless it can be taken in account that this fraction is very sensitive to the water presence during the extraction that favors the conversion of carnosic acid toward it oxidized form carnosol. From our findings, it appear evident that when evaluating the phenolic content in rosemary leaves, several factors, mainly the type of storage, the drying process and the extraction methods, should be carefully taken into account because they can induce partial losses of the antioxidant components. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The aim of the present study was to verify the distribution of lignans in pulp and stones of olive fruits. Analyses were carried out by HPLC/DAD/MS on four cultivars: Frantoio and Taggiasca from Italy, Arbequina and Picual from Spain. The main results can be summarized as follows: (a) lignans were demonstrated to be present in the stone; (b) acetoxypinoresinol, pinoresinol, previously detected in the respective extra virgin olive oils, and OH-pinoresinol were found in the samples; (c) the total lignan content ranged between 0.1 and 0.29 mg/g of dried stone weight. These values agree with the average lignan content reported in literature for the respective extra virgin olive oils.

The aim of the present study was to compare the phenolic content in selected monocultivar extra virgin olive oils. Analyses were carried out by HPLC/DAD/MS on Picual, Picuda, Arbequina and Hojiblanca oils from Spain and Seggianese and Taggiasca oils from Italy. Oils from cultivar Picual showed similar characteristics to those of Seggianese oils, with total amounts of secoiridoids of 498.7 and 619.2mg/L, respectively. The phenolic composition of Arbequina oils is close to that of the Taggiasca variety with lignans among the main compounds. The determination of free and linked OH-Tyr, by way of an acid hydrolysis, represents a rapid and suitable method, especially when standards are not available, to determine antioxidant potentialities in terms of MPC, particularly for fresh extra virgin olive oils rich in secoiridoidic derivatives.

The effect of different concentrations of growth regulators and sucrose on anthocyanin production in cell suspension cultures of Camptotheca acuminata Decaisne (Nyssaceae) was described for the first time and qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated. Anthocyanin production was significantly greater in the presence of kinetin, compared to benzyladenine, with the greatest concentration observed in the presence of 2 microM kinetin. No significant differences in anthocyanin production were observed when comparing 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid to alpha-naphthaleneacetic acid, except when using 2 microM, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, which resulted in greater anthocyanin production. High sucrose concentration enhanced the production of anthocyanins. Based on the absence of anthocyanin production in the dark, we concluded that light was essential for stimulating anthocyanin production. The optimised medium consisted of: 2 microM kinetin, 2 microM 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 292 mM sucrose. HPLC/DAD and HPLC/MS analyses revealed that the main anthocyanin was Cy 3-O-galactoside and that the minor derivative was Cy 3-O-glucoside.

Artichoke leaf extracts are widely used alone or in association with other herbs for embittering alcoholic and soft drinks and to prepare herbal teas or herbal medicinal products. Despite this wide diffusion, the European Pharmacopoeia does not report an official method for the determination of the active principles of artichoke leaf extracts. This work reports a quali-quantitative determination by HPLC/DAD and HPLC/MS techniques of both cynnamic acids and flavonoids present in some artichoke leaf commercial extracts (Com) compared with two different laboratory extracts (Lab). Most of the commercial extracts showed a similar quali-quantitative pattern with a single exception having five-six times higher value. The quantitative data from the Italian Pharmacopoeia(IP) official method does not evaluate the flavonoidic fraction and showed an overestimation of the caffeoyl esters with respect to the HPLC/DAD results. The proposed HPLC/DAD method was able to completely characterize and quantify this matrix and represents a contribution to better quality control of these herbal extracts.