Flavanoids Separation

Flavonoids are a water-soluble class of polyphenols derived from plant secondary metabolites through the condensation of cinnamic acid with malonyl-CoA groups (Bloor 2001). This conversion can lead to the formation of flavones, isoflavones, flavonols, and anthocyanins. Flavonoid chemical structures are based on a C6-C3-C6 skeleton that differs among each other by the saturation of heteroatomic ring C (Stobiecki and Kachilicki 2006). Further reactions as glycosilation, acylation, and alkylation cause the formation of a huge variety of flavonoids in the plant kingdom. The flavonoids consist of six major subgroups: chalcone, flavone, flavonol, flavanone, anthocyanins, and isoflavonoids. Examples of some of these subgroups are shown in Fig. 1. Together with carotenes, flavanoids are also responsible for the coloring of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. For analysis purposes, there is basically a flavonoids division into glycosides, aglycones, and anthocyanins. Each of these types is...