Antioxidant activity of plant extracts on the inhibition of citral off-odor formation

Grape seed, pomegranate seed, green tea, and black tea extracts were used to inhibit the off-odor from citral degradation. A 0.1 M citrate buffer (pH 3), containing 100 ppm citral and 200 ppm gallic acid equivalent plant extract, was incubated at 40°C. The reaction mixtures were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) at days 0, 6, 10, 13, and 16 to monitor degradation of citral and formation of α, p-dimethylstyrene, p-cymene-8-ol, and p-methylacetophenone. The addition of plant phenolic extracts could not inhibit citral degradation, however, all four plant extracts significantly inhibited p-methylacetophenone formation. The samples, with the addition of plant extracts, exhibited higher concentrations of α, p-dimethylstyrene and p-cymene-8-ol than the control. This is presumed to be due to the oxygen-scavenging effect of plant extracts blocking the pathway from p-cymene-8-ol to p-methylacetophenone. Our results suggest that these plant extracts act as general antioxidants inhibiting the generation of p-methylacetophenone regardless of the types of water-soluble phenolic compounds existing in the plant extracts.