Comparison of different extraction solvents for assay of the polyphenol content in the peel and pulp of 21 apple cultivars from Macedonia

Abstract

<jats:p>Apples (Malus domestica Borkh.) contain a large array of phenolic compounds belonging to flavonoids and non-flavonoids. This study systematically evaluates the polyphenolic content of 21 apple cultivars from the Republic of Macedonia, both commercial and autochthonous, applying spectrophotometric methods for the determination of total polyphenolic compounds, total flavonoids, total anthocyanins and total flavan-3-ols. The reliability of these methods was checked by confirming the method linearity and accuracy with standards and spiked samples. The efficiency of acetone, water, methanol and a mixture of methanol/water (90 : 10, V/V) as extraction solvents was compared. Evident differences between extracts obtained from freeze-dried apple peel and pulp, extracted with different solvents, and analyzed with the four spectrophotometric tests, were observed and discussed. The most satisfactory extraction efficiency was achieved using methanol/water (90 : 10, V/V) mixture. The results obtained from the methanol/water extracts illustrate evident differences between polyphenol contents and reveal the diversity in polyphenols, total flavonoid and flavanol composition between the assayed commercial and autochthonous cultivars. The maximum abundance of polyphenols was noticed in the peel of Tetovka and Livadarka cultivars (15.63 mg/g GAE and 14.85 mg/g GAE, respectively) and in the pulp of Pasalma, Tetovka and Livadarka cultivars (12.55 mg/g GAE, 11.45 mg/g GAE and 11.22 mg/g GAE, respectively).</jats:p>