SEPARATION OF WALNUT KERNEL POLYPHENOLS

Phenolic substances, the main group of natural antioxidants of walnut, contribute remarkably to nutritional and organoleptic properties of the kernel. There are however some difficulties in the study of such substances due to presence at the same time of many of them in the nut, so their whole characterisation needs many standards and expensive instruments. This work describes a new methodology for studying phenolic substances of walnut, founded on the interactions of phenolic compounds with metal ions situated in the exchange places of ion exchange resins. The method allows easier recognition and characterisation of these substances by separating them in classes on the basis of their structural characteristic and of the cations present in the ion exchange resins.