ARS | Publication request: Profiling of Peanut Plant Material Using LC-TOFMS

Submitted to: Association Official Analytical Chemists Annual Intrl Meeting & Exposition
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: September 25, 2008
Publication Date: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Plants have been found to be a source of compounds that are known to be bioactive. These types of properties, especially the type defined as antioxidant are generated much interest. Other than the peanut seed, the rest of the plant has little economic value and is usually discarded or in some cases baled for animal forage. It would be advantageous to investigate this material to for bioactive compounds in order to increase its value. Traditionally, this would involve laborious chemical separations and isolations for traditional chromatographic identification of the compounds. By using Liquid Chromatography interfaced with Time of Flight Mass Spectroscopy (LC-TOFMS), it is possible to rapidly identify compounds based on their mass without the need for complete separation as required by traditional chromatography or by ion scanning by traditional mass spectroscopy. This work applies this technique to parts of the peanut plant other than the seed such as leaves, roots, skins and shells and compares the types of compounds found.

Technical Abstract: There has been an increasing interest in the presence and availability of compounds in plant materials that may possess bioactive properties, in particular, antioxidant activity. The high phenolic content of these pars makes them sources of compounds with nutraceutical properties. The types of plants that have been investigated cover a vast range from common foodstuffs to regional and exotic materials. Plant parts under study have included portions that are traditionally known to be edible, as well as sections that are considered “waste” or used for animal forage. Identification and characterization of different peanut plant parts are of interest in order to determine their potential as functional ingredients in food and non-food applications. Because most screening techniques involve lengthy separations, high throughput LCMS methods are desirable. Our objective was to develop a rapid and reproducible method for screening various peanut plant materials for flavonoid content. The peanut skin, leaf, root and shell were compared to identify similarities and differences.