Searching for new sources of innovative products for the food industry within halophyte aromatic plants: In vitro antioxidant activity and phenolic and mineral contents of infusions and decoctions of Crithmum maritimum L.

Aromatic halophyte plants are an outstanding source of bioactive compounds and natural products with potential use in the food industry. This work reports the in vitro antioxidant activity, toxicity, polyphenolic profile and mineral contents of infusions and decoctions from stems, leaves and flowers of Crithmum maritimum L., an aromatic and edible maritime halophyte (sea fennel).

In vitro antioxidant and inhibitory activity of water decoctions of carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) on cholinesterases, α-amylase and α-glucosidase.

This work reports the in vitro inhibitory activity of water decoctions of leaves, germ flour, pulp, locust bean gum and stem bark of carob tree on α-amylase, α-glucosidase, acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase. The antioxidant activity and the chemical characterisation of the extracts made by spectrophotometric assays and by high-performance liquid chromatography are also reported. Leaves and stem bark decoctions strongly inhibited all the enzymes tested, had significant antioxidant activity and the highest total phenolics content.

Combining bar adsorptive microextraction with capillary electrophoresis--application for the determination of phenolic acids in food matrices.

In this contribution, bar adsorptive microextraction coated with a mixed-mode anion exchange/RP followed by liquid desorption was combined for the first time with a capillary electrophoresis-diode array detection system (BAμE(MAX)-LD/CE-DAD), for the determination of phenolic acids in food matrices, using chlorogenic, ferulic, cumaric, and caffeic acids as model compounds. Assays performed in aqueous media spiked at the 0.8 mg/L level yielded average recoveries up to 40% for all four phenolic acids, under optimized experimental conditions.