Development of sorbents for immunoaffinity extraction of isoflavonoids

Abstract The majority of currently known isoflavonoids has been detected in and isolated from the Leguminosae; however, their presence has also been reported in numerous non-legumes. Detection of these secondary metabolites in non-legumes is impeded by the complex matrix of plant material and low concentration of the analytes. In this study, we present a combination of immunoaffinity chromatography (IAC) and HPLC–ESI-MS as a new tool for the detection of isoflavonoids. Immunoglobulin fractions of polyclonal rabbit antisera against conjugates of bovine serum albumin (BSA) with selected isoflavonoids (i.e. biochanin A, genistein and daidzein) were immobilized on a commercially available Affi-Gel 10 support. Immunosorbents were characterized according to their specificity and binding capacity and used in an off-line combination with HPLC–ESI-MS for a pilot study of isoflavonoid presence in Maclura pomifera and Ficus carica (Moraceae).