An extraction and
pre
parative HPLC method has been devised to simultaneously
purify sulfora
phaneand sulfora
phane nitrile from the seed of
Brassica oleracea var.
italica cv. Brigadier. The seed wasdefatted with hexane, dried, and hydrolyzed in deionized water (1:9) for 8 h. The hydrolyzed seedmeal was salted and extracted with methylene chloride. The dried residue was redissolved in a 5%acetonitrile solution and washed with excess hexane to remove non
polar contaminants. The aqueous
phase was filtered through a 0.22-
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m cellulose filter and se
parated by HPLC using a Waters Pre
pNova-Pak HR C-18 reverse-
phase column. Refractive index was used to detect sulfora
phane nitrile,and absorbance at 254 nm was used to detect sulfora
phane. Peak identification was confirmed usinggas chromatogra
phy and electron-im
pact mass s
pectrometry. Each kilogram of extracted seed yieldeda
pproximately 4.8 g of sulfora
phane and 3.8 g of sulfora
phane nitrile. Standard curves were develo
pedusing the
purified com
pounds to allow quantification of sulfora
phane and sulfora
phane nitrile inbroccoli tissue using a ra
pid GC method. The methodology was used to com
pare sulfora
phane andsulfora
phane nitrile content of autolyzed sam
ples of several broccoli varieties.Keywords:
Brassica oleracea; glucosinolates; broccoli; sulfora
phane; sulfora
phane nitrile; isothiocyanate; HPLC