SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS IN RED WINES BY HPLC-UV

Ten samples of commercially Italian red wines were analyzed in order to determine the phenolic content. Variations in wine types are largely due to differences in concentration and composition of these compounds. Polyphenolic compounds are a large and complex group of substances which constitute one of the most important quality parameters of wine. These constituents of red wine contribute to organoleptic characteristics and to antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Moderate wine consumption is associated with several beneficial physiological effects, which include anticancer activities, inhibition of platelet aggregation, and inhibition of LDL oxidation which constitutes the initial stage of the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis. For the analysis, reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method coupled with UV-Vis detection was used. The method uses a gradient elution to identify nine biologically active phenolic constituents: catechin; epicatechin; transand cis-resveratrol; gallic, chlorogenic and caffeic acid; rutin and quercetin in red wine samples. The samples are injected directly without any pretreatment. The method is simple, fast, not expensive and shows good linearity for all constituents, and the detection limits ranged from 0.3–1.6 mg/ml for trans-resveratrol and gallic acid, respectively. Moreover, the samples were analyzed in different times for estimation of stability of these compounds.