ABSTRACT
Polyphenol analysis, most of the time, requires a separation method. High-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) is an excellent alternative to reduce the amount of contaminants to detect less abundant compounds. Recovery of tyrosol- and hydroxy-tyrosol-glucoside from avocado seeds (Persea americana Mill c.v. Hass) is an example of the use of HSCCC to separate polar compounds present in the methanol: Water partition extracted from avocado seed. One of the previous steps is to select the solvent system. Among the four systems, tert-butyl methyl ether:n-butanol:acetonitrile:water is the best one. It is very important to define the number of fractions that will be obtained from this technique; it could be based on bioactivity or yield. In this case, only six fractions were obtained. The compounds presented in all the fractions were identified by LC-ESI-MS. The results showed that quinic acid, chlorogenic acid, and proanthocyanidins were present in different proportions in each one of these six fractions. Additionally, two tyrosol glycosides were identified. The biological effect and scavenging capacity of this methanol: Water partition showed interesting results.
