Pulse crop seed coats are a sustainable source of antioxidant polyphenols, but are typically treated as low-value products, partly because some polyphenols reduce iron bioavailability in humans. This study correlates antioxidant/iron chelation capabilities of diverse seed coat types from five major pulse crops (common bean, lentil, pea, chickpea and faba bean) with polyphenol composition using mass spectrometry. Untargeted metabolomics was used to identify key differences and a hierarchical analysis revealed that common beans had the most diverse polyphenol profiles among these pulse crops. The highest antioxidant capacities were found in seed coats of black bean and all tannin lentils, followed by maple pea, however, tannin lentils showed much lower iron chelation among these seed coats. Thus, tannin lentils are more desirable sources as natural antioxidants in food applications, whereas black bean and maple pea are more suitable sources for industrial applications. Regardless of pulse crop, proanthocyanidins were primary contributors to antioxidant capacity, and to a lesser extent, anthocyanins and flavan-3-ols, whereas glycosylated flavonols contributed minimally. Higher iron chelation was primarily attributed to proanthocyanidin composition, and also myricetin 3-O-glucoside in black bean. Seed coats having proanthocyanidins that are primarily prodelphinidins show higher iron chelation compared with those containing procyanidins and/or propelargonidins.

Polyphenols play roles in plant defense mechanisms and are natural sources of antioxidants in food. A pea (Pisum sativum L.) recombinant inbred line (RIL) population (PR‐20) was developed from CDC Amarillo (white flower) and CDC Dakota (purple flower). Approximately half of the lines had white flowers and half had purple flowers, and these had two seed coat types (speckled and dun). The objective of this study was to use liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry to compare polyphenolic profiles of seed components of four randomly selected PR‐20 lines from each of these three distinct groups to identify polyphenols that can be targeted in pea breeding. We quantified 30, 29, and 27 polyphenols in whole seeds, seed coats, and cotyledons, respectively. Except for gallic acid in whole seeds, no differences were observed between speckled and dun seed coats. Compared with white flower lines, 24, 23, and 12 compounds were at greater concentration in seed coats (3–6100 times), whole seeds (2–820 times) and cotyledons (2–110 times) of purple flower lines. Cotyledons of purple flower lines contained eight times more 3,4‐dihydroxybenzoic acid and 110 times more epigallocatechin than white flower lines. Ferulic acid, dihydrokaempferol, and kaempferol 3‐O‐glucoside were two to three times greater in cotyledons of white flower vs. purple flower lines. This study provides a basis for exploration of pea germplasm to identify accessions with high polyphenol content for breeding pea cultivars with improved health benefits in human diets.

The objective of this work was to develop and validate a rapid reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method for the quantification of etoposide (ETP) and prodigiosin (PRO) content in a nanoparticle delivery system prepared with β-casein coated lactoferrin for targeted delivery to lung cancer cells. Chromatographic runs were performed on a Shimadzu Prominence LC-20AP with an RP Prontosil Kromaplus phenyl (250 × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 μm) column using methanol and 10 mM ammonium acetate buffer (75 : 25 v/v) as a mobile phase in an isocratic elution, with a fixed pH of 3.0 ± 0.2 at a flow rate of 2 ml min⁻¹. ETP was detected at wavelengths of 242 and 286 nm, while PRO was estimated at a wavelength of 536 nm. The injection volume was 20 μl and the column temperature was maintained at ambient temperature (25 °C ± 0.5). The validation characteristics included accuracy, precision, specificity, linearity, recovery, and robustness. The standard curve was found to have a linear relationship (r = 0.99957 for ETP₂₄₂, 0.99997 for ETP₂₈₆ and 0.99996 for PRO₅₃₆) over the analytical range of 1–100 μg ml⁻¹. The detection and quantitation limits were 0.30 and 0.99 μg ml⁻¹ for ETP₂₄₂, 0.45 and 1.50 μg ml⁻¹ for ETP₂₈₆ and 0.37 and 0.74 μg ml⁻¹ for PRO₅₃₆, respectively. The recovery and loaded ETP and PRO in the nano-micelle delivery system were nearly 100% and 98%, respectively. The present data greatly underpin a new, robust, fast, precise, validated HPLC based method for the quantification of ETP and PRO in nanoformulations.