Identification and quantification of antioxidant compounds in cowpea

• Published in: Ciência agronômica Vol. 48; no. 5; pp. 799 - 805
• Main Authors: Moreira-Araújo, Regilda Saraiva dos Reis, Sampaio, Geni Rodrigues, Soares, Rosana Aparecida Manólio, Silva, Cintia Pereira, Arêas, José Alfredo Gomes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Fortaleza Universidade Federal do Ceará, Centro de Ciências Agrárias 2017; Universidade Federal do Ceará
• Subjects: Acids; AGRONOMY; Antioxidants; Bioativos; Caffeic acid; Catechin; Chlorogenic acid; Coumaric acid; Cowpeas; Damage prevention; Diet; Epicatechin; Fenólicos; Ferulic acid; Gallic acid; High performance liquid chromatography; Liquid chromatography; p-Coumaric acid; Phenols; Prevention; Quercetin; Vigna unguiculata; Vitamin E; Fenólicos; Bioativos; Phenolics; Bioactive; Vigna unguiculata
• ISSN: 1806-6690; 0045-6888; 1806-6690
• DOI: 10.5935/1806-6690.20170093

Dietary antioxidant compounds have been widely studied because of their ability to delay or inhibit oxidative damage, which allows them to play an important role in the prevention of diseases and the promotion of health. The identification and characterization of such compounds are required before their use in humans. This study aimed to identify and quantify antioxidant compounds in the cowpea cultivar, BRS Tumucumaque, and the cowpea strain, Pingo de Ouro 1-2, in view of their potential use in the development of new products with potent antioxidant activity. Here, we report the antioxidant activity and the phenolic compound content of the aforementioned cowpeas. The antioxidant extracts were analyzed by HPLC in a Shimadzu LC-20AT chromatograph model equipped with a manual injector using standard solutions of pure phenolic compounds, including gallic acid, quercetin, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, catechin, and epicatechin. Gallic acid was the phenolic compound with the highest level in both BRS Tumucumaque and Pingo de Ouro 1-2 (45.4 ± 2.66 and 93.4 ± 1.25 mg/100 g, respectively). Moreover, we identified and quantified catechin (5.67 ± 0.34 and 6.48 ± 0.51 mg/100 g, respectively), epicatechin (8.67 ± 0.47 and 2.95 ± 0.17 mg/100 g, respectively), ferulic acid (11.1 ± 1.42 and 13.8 ± 0.55 mg/100 g, respectively), and chlorogenic acid (2.39 ± 0.24 and 0.59 ± 0.28 mg/100 g, respectively). In contrast, caffeic acid was only identified in BRS Tumucumaque and quantified at 27.8 ± 2.99 mg/100 g. We conclude that Vigna unguiculata demonstrates functional potential, as both the strain and the cultivar contain antioxidant compounds that help in disease prevention and health maintenance.