HPLC Analysis of Phenolic Compounds

Lyophilised and powdered samples (about 250 mg) were extracted with 2 mL of methanol using sonication (10 min at 25 ± 2 °C) and centrifuged for 10 min at 15,000 rpm. The supernatant was filtered through 0.22 μm filter (Millex^®GP, Millipore, Merck, Darmstadt, Germany). RP-HPLC analyses was carried out according to Simlat et al.^{34 (link)} using a Merck–Hitachi liquid chromatograph (LaChrom Elite, Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan) equipped with a DAD detector L-2455 and Purospher^®RP-18e (250 × 4 mm/5 mm) column (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany). Quantification was carried out at λ = 254 nm for phenolic acids and λ = 370 nm for flavonoids. Identification was performed through a comparison of the retention times of the peaks with authentic reference compounds and co-chromatography with standards. Quantification consisted of measurement of the peak area with reference to the standard curve derived from five concentrations (0.03125–0.5 mg ml⁻¹). Commercially available standards of the phenolic acids: chlorogenic, neochlorogenic (Sigma–Aldrich, St Louis, MO, USA), isochlorogenic A (ChromaDex, Irvine, CA, USA), and rosmarinic (Sigma–Aldrich, St Louis, MO, USA), as well as the flavonoids isoquercetin, and quercitrin (Sigma–Aldrich, St Louis, MO, USA), were used to generate the calibration curves. The analysis was repeated three times.