Phenolic Compounds - Isolation of phenolic compounds

15 important questions on Phenolic Compounds - Isolation of phenolic compounds

What is the pretreatment of a sample if you wand to isolate the phenolic compounds?

The pretreatment is to clean with hexaan.
This is to extracht the fatty acids.

However not always good because some phenolics might be so apolair that they go into the hexaan. However often not the case.

How do you choose your solvent for phenolic compound extraction?

It depends on the polarity of the phenolic compound that you wand to isolate.

How can you change the polarity of the solvent?

By mixing solvents.
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What is a quantative extraction?

You extract all the phenolic compounds that are pressent.

How do you get a quantative extraction and how can you check it?

You do a exhaustive extraction: re-extract the pellet after extraction again, and again.

You can check if you have everything by the spectophotometer.

How do you measure with the spectophometer?

Check if you have a peak at 280 nm.

Or if you know which phenolic compounds you have you can check for there specific absorbance.

Why has the daizein a lower absorbtion spectrum then coumestrol?

This is because coumestrol has a larger conjugated system and can absorb more light.

Can proteins form give a false result in the photospectrum?

Proteins also absorb light.
Only if you used a lot of water in your solvent.
With 100% ethanol this will not be the case. Then you only extract the small molecules.

When do you stop extracting with your solvent?

When  you have less then 5% of the some of all the prior solvent extractions.

How do you ditermone how much solvent you are adding?

You have to find a balance between the amount of solvent and the times you do the extraction step.

More solvent: less extraction steps and the other way around.

How does solid phase extraction go?

  1. You put your sample in a colomn and the apolair compounds(phenolics) will bind to the colomn. The polair compounds will not bind and go trough the colomn.
  2. Then you wash it with water in order to get the left over carbohydrates out.
  3. Then put in the eluting solvent to get the phenolic compounds out.
  4. Concentrate it by evaporating the eluent.

What is important in solid phase extraction of this compound?

That you lower the pH to 3 otherwise the compound is not polair and you will lose it.

How does partitioning or liquid-liquid extraction go?

You have your sample in water and you add ethyl acetate. Then shake it. Let it rest an you will have phase separation gain. This will result in a apolar and polar phase. The apolar phase will have the phenols and the polar phase other componetns.

So separation is based on difference in relative solubility.

How can you concentrate a sample by freeze-drying?

Add t-Butanol (it has a high meling point with good solublility of phenolics and water-miscibility).

It will result in a fluffy homogenious sample.

How can you determine the amount of phenolics you have?

  • By Absorbance at specific wave length (inaccurate)
  • Colorimetic assac according to Folin-Ciocaltueu (incaccurate)
  • HPLC analyses
    - Calibration curve relating peak area to quantity of each compound
    - Molar extinction coefficients
    - Availability of standards poor: calculate as equivalents of related compound

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