HPLC-DAD Polyphenolic Profiling and Antioxidant Activities of Sorghum bicolor during Germination

The purpose of this study was to assess the suitability of the Romanian Albanus hybrid of Sorghum bicolor as a potential functional food ingredient. Ultrasound-assisted extraction in different solvents, together with spectrophotometric and chromatographic methods, was used to monitor the variation in total phenolic and flavonoid content and the antioxidant activity of raw sorghum grains before and during short germination periods (24, 36 and 48 h). The High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode-Array Detection (HPLC-DAD) investigation of the extracts revealed that the ungerminated sorghum grains extracted with methanol had the highest diversity of phenolic compounds, while the total phenolic content (TPC) was the highest after 36 h of germination in both extract types: 1853 mg GAE/100 g for the methanolic extract and 1726 mg GAE/100 g for the ethanolic extract. The findings of this study showed that the TPC of sorghum extracts is strongly correlated with their antioxidant activity and, overall, that the studied extracts presented a good radical scavenger activity, which supports the benefits of alimentary uses of Sorghum bicolor grains.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the suitability of the Romanian Albanus hybrid of Sorghum bicolor as a potential functional food ingredient using ultrasound-assisted extraction and chromatographic methods. The total phenolic and flavonoid content as well as antioxidant activity of ungerminated sorghum grains were closely related to the Total Phenolic Content (TPC) after 36 hours of germination in both methanolic and ethanolic extracts. The study findings demonstrated a strong correlation between the TPC of sorghum extracts and their antioxidant activity, indicating the benefits of using Sorghum bicolor grains in food applications.