Elucidation of phenolic metabolites in wheat seedlings (Triticum aestivum L.) by NMR and HPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS/MS: Changes in isolated phenolics and antioxidant effects through diverse growth times

The current research was characterized on phenolic metabolite profile including six chemical structures (phenolic acid, luteolin, orientin, apigenin, isoscoparin, and tricin) in wheat seedlings using HPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS/MS and NMR techniques. Our study was also was the first to demonstrate fluctuations of isolated nine phenolic contents and antioxidant properties in various cultivars of this species with different growth times. The antioxidant abilities differed significantly in the 80 % methanol extracts (600 μg/mL) according to cultivar and growth time, with the highest average activities (DPPH: 82 %; ABTS: 87 %) observed after 7 days. The isolated nine compositions exhibited considerable differences in cultivars and growth times, specifically, isoorientin (6) and isochaftoside (8) were observed the most abundant average contents (99.3; 64.3 mg/100 g), representing approximately 28.3 and 18.3 % (total content: 350.8 mg/100 g). Their total phenolics showed the highest rates (420.8 mg/100 g) at 7 days, followed by 9 → 5 → 12 → 14 days with 374.6 → 366.7 → 350.7 → 241.1 mg/100 g, as the rank orders of antioxidant effects. These findings suggest that wheat seedlings may be a potent source of functional agents.