Novel determination of the total phenolic content in crude plant extracts by the use of H NMR of the –OH spectral region

A novel method for the determination of the total phenolic content using ¹H NMR spectroscopy in the –OH spectral region is presented. The use of DMSO-d₆, which is an aprotic and strongly hydrogen bonding solvent, allows the “appearance” of the relative sharp resonances of phenolic hydroxyl protons in the region of 8–14 ppm. The determination of the total phenolic –OH content requires three steps: (i) a 1D ¹H NMR spectrum is obtained in DMSO-d₆; (ii) a subsequent 1D ¹H NMR spectrum is recorded with irradiation of the residual water signal which results in the elimination or reduction of the phenolic –OH groups, due to proton exchange; and (iii) 1D ¹H NMR spectra are recorded with the addition of a progressively increased amount of salt, NaHCO₃, which results in extensive linebroadening of the COOH resonances thus allowing the discrimination of the phenolic from the carboxylic acid signals. Integration, with respect to the internal standard TSP-d₄, of the signal resonances between 14 and 8 ppm in spectrum (i) which are either eliminated or reduced in intensity in steps (ii) and (iii) allows the quantitation of the total phenolic content. The method was applied to model compounds, a mixture of them and several extracts of natural products. The results of the proposed ¹H NMR method were compared to the Folin-Ciocalteu (FC) reagent method. Additionally, since ¹H NMR refers to the total phenolic hydroxyl protons, a reaction factor, A_e, is proposed that corresponds to the hydroxyl reactivity. The ¹H NMR method is rapid and accurate bearing the inherent advantages of the NMR spectroscopy and can be applied directly in complex extracts. Furthermore, it can be applied in a wide range of matrixes from crude plant extracts and food products to biological samples.