Determination of phenolic composition of oilseed whole flours by HPLC-DAD with evaluation using chemometric analyses

Abstract Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) and sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) and their derivatives, such as whole flour, are considered as functional food, rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds with potential beneficial health effects. In this work were used chemometric tools for the optimization of the extraction method of bioactive phenolics and for the analysis of the phenolic profile of whole flours of brown and yellow flaxseed and black and white sesame seed. Using qualitative phytochemical analysis, the presence of lignans, tannins and terpenes in the flours analyzed was verified. Higher antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content was verified for whole flours of black sesame. Some phenolic and flavonoid acids were quantified in the analyzed flours by High Performance Liquid Chromatography, and chlorogenic, vanillic, caffeic and ferulic acids were detected in all samples. With multivariate analyses (Artificial Neural Networks, Principal Components Analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis) it was possible to distinguish the flour samples by the type of seed, showing the potential of the chemometry for verification of the authenticity and quality of whole flours.