Adsorption of hesperidin from aqueous solutions on styrene-divinylbenzene (SDVB) and acrylic resins was investigated at different pH values (1.5-5.5) and temperatures (10-40 degrees C). Adsorption was not affected by pH variation, whereas it increased on increasing temperature for the SDVB resins and remained substantially unchanged for the acrylic ones. The different behavior of the two types of resins was ascribed to the different wetting, because of their hydrophobic or partially hydrophilic properties, respectively. The equilibrium data at 20 degrees C were determined on 13 commercial resins displaying a wide range of surface areas (S(A), 330-1200 m(2)/g) and pore radii (P(R), 20-260 A). Data were well fitted to the Freundlich isotherm, and its parameters were used to compare the adsorption capacity of different resins. The most effective resin is a SDVB copolymer with the largest S(A) (1200 m(2)/g) and an intermediate P(R) (90 A). The Freundlich constants (K(F)) were rationalized in terms of a two parameter equation, including S(A) and P(R) as independent variables. The adsorption constant increased on increasing both S(A) and P(R) for the resins having P(R)

Adsorption of cyanidin-3-glucoside in aqueous batch solutions was studied at pH 3.5 and 20 degrees C using 13 commercial resins with different hydrophobicity, surface areas (SA, 330-1200 m2/g), and pore radii (PR, 20-260 A). The solute affinity toward different resins was described in terms of Langmuir and Freundlich parameters; experimental data were well-fitted to the two isotherms, which were both utilized to compare resins adsorption capacity. The styrene-divinylbenzene EXA-118 resin (SA, 1200 m2/g; PR, 90 A) showed the maximum effectiveness among the tested resins; a good efficacy for removing cyanidin 3-glucoside was shown also by EXA-90 (SA, 630 m2/g; PR, 105 A). Some experiments on a styrene-divinylbenzene resin and an acrylic one demonstrated that adsorption was not influenced by pH variations of the solution within the range of 1.0-4.5. For the 10 resins having PR < or = 105 A, correlation analysis evidenced the linear increasing dependence of Freundlich constant KF on physical characteristics of surface area and pore radius. The adsorption of cyanidin 3-glucoside at 20 degrees C was compared with that of hesperidin performed in batch runs on the same resins. Moreover, the best resin (EXA-118) was tested with a sample of pigmented orange juice to assess its performance in terms of selectivity, adsorption, and desorption capabilities on a real matrix.

The adsorption-desorption performances of commercial resins (two polystyrene-divinylbenzene copolymers and one methacrylic) were tested in column studies for the selective recovery of anthocyanins and hydroxycinnamates from pigmented pulp wash (PW), a byproduct of blood orange juice processing. Methanol, ethanol, and their mixtures with different percentages of water as eluents were tested in order to investigate the selective desorption of these natural antioxidants with the goal of minimizing the presence of other compounds, mostly flavanones and limonoids, in the concentrated eluates. The results indicated that polystyrene-divinylbenzene resins were able to adsorb a major amount of anthocyanins and hydroxycinnamates and to desorb them in more-concentrated fractions. No selectivity was observed using pure methanol and ethanol which resulted in concentrates with no further separation of components from the starting raw PW. The ethanol/water concentrates showed higher yields than the fractions attained using methanol/water; however, a lower selectivity toward anthocyanin pigments was observed. The best performing resin, EXA-118, together with the mixture methanol/water 50:50 (v/v) as best eluent, appears to be the most suitable system to obtain highly concentrated extracts. Thus, it was chosen to perform a larger experiment, to analyze the selectivity of the removal upon an increase in elution volume.

Yellow flesh peaches (Prunus persica L.) from different Sicilian areas (Leonforte, Riesi and Maniace) were investigated for the first time for their polyphenolic composition, with consideration of both peel and flesh tissues. The qualitative and quantitative polyphenolic evaluation was determined at two different maturity stages (commercial and postharvest ripening) via chromatographic separation by using reverse‐phase HPLC‐PDA‐ESI/MS 2. This technique provides a comprehensive chromatographic evaluation of 10 compounds (hydroxycinnamates and flavonols), differently distributed in the analyzed tissues. Overall, the hydroxycinnamates were present in both pulp and peel, while flavonols resulted exclusively located in the peel. Peels were found to be richest in polyphenolics with respect to the pulps, containing up to 276 mg/kg fresh weight in Riesi commercial‐ripe peaches. Generally, the peach tissues from commercial‐ripe fruits showed higher phenolics contents than postharvest‐ripe fruits. Practical Applications It is well documented that the benefits due to the consumption of fruit can be largely attributed to the elevated content of phenolic compounds. High levels of phenolic compounds in fruits are of high importance to maintain the quality of fruits and provide consumers the health benefits of fruit consumption. Thus, the assessment of the distribution of phenolic compounds in various parts of the peach fruit and any variations due at the time of collection are considered interesting from a scientific point of view. The characterization of peach phenolics could represent a useful tool in the area of food authenticity protection since some compounds could represent specific quality markers. Moreover, a study on phenolics quantification at different ripening stages could provide useful information for assessing the fruit harvest timing in order to ensure the best fruit quality.

The present study evaluated the reliability of the ISO/TS 3632-2 UV-Vis spectrometric method for saffron classification, making experiments on saffron samples to which were added increasing concentrations of common saffron spice adulterants (safflower, marigold and turmeric). The results showed that the ISO/TS 3632-2 method is not able to detect addition of up to 10-20%, w/w, of saffron adulterants. For additions from 20 to 50%, w/w, of the three adulterants, saffron was classified in a wrong category; addition of higher than 50%, w/w, determined variations in the investigated parameters that did not allow identification of the product as "saffron". In all cases, the method did not permit the recognition of the nature of the adulterant. On the contrary, the specificity of the HPLC/PDA/MS technique allowed the unequivocal identification of adulterant characteristic marker molecules that could be recognized by the values of absorbance and mass. The selection of characteristic ions of each marker molecule has revealed concentrations of up to 5%, w/w, for safflower and marigold and up to 2% for turmeric. In addition, the high dyeing power of turmeric allowed the determination of 2%, w/w, addition using exclusively the HPLC/PDA technique.