Antioxidant Activity of Various Fractions of Non-Tannin Phenolics of Canola Hulls

Cyclone canola hulls were extracted with 70% (v/v) acetone. The dried crude extract was dissolved in ethanol and fractionated on a Sephadex LH-20 column using 95% (v/v) ethanol as the mobile phase. Five major fractions were isolated according to the UV absorption. All fractions exhibited marked antioxidant activity in a beta-carotene-linoleate model system. Fractions I and II showed the best preventive effect against the bleaching of beta-carotene. The scavenging effect of fractions I, III, and V, at 1 mg, on alpha, alpha-diphenyl-beta-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical was 67.4%, 80.7%, and 63.3%, respectively. Fractions II and IV showed weak DPPH scavenging effects. The reducing power of phenolics present in fractions IV and V was greater than that of fractions I-III, and the observed data correlated well (r(2) = 0.937; P = 0.007) with the total content of phenolics present in each fraction.