ABSTRACT
Plant polyphenols are aromatic hydroxylated compounds, commonly found in vegetables, fruits, and many food sources that form a signiˆcant portion of our diet, and are among the most potent and therapeutically useful bioactive substances. Phenolic derivatives represent the largest group known as “secondary plant products” synthesized by higher plants probably as a result of antioxidative strategies adapted in evolution by respirative organisms starting from the precursors of cyanobacteria. Many of the phenolic compounds are essential to plant life, for example, by providing a defense against microbial attacks and by making food unpalatable to herbivorous predators (Bennick 2002).
