The Removal Of Cyanogenic Glycosides And Release Of SDG In Flaxseed Products And Their Quantitative Analysis

Flaxseed, the seed of Linum usitatissimum L., is rich in bioactive constituents, such as lignans, fatty acid, flavones, cyclic peptides, phenylpropanoid glucosides, and cyanogenic glycosides. Flaxseed lignans have been reported to have estrogenic, antiestrogenic, anticancer, osteporosis preventing, cardiovascular disease-preventing, menopause symptom-reliving, and antioxidant effects. However, the presence of the toxic components in the flaxseed, like cyanogenic glycosides, limits the daily intake of flaxseed products. We isolated and purified 3 flaxseed compounds with column chromatography technology, and identified these compounds as sucrose and 2 cyanogenic glycosides--linustatin and neolinustatin by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass pectrometric methods. Using linustatin, neolinustatin and secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) as standards, we developed a method to quantify the three compounds simultaneously by ultrahighperformance liqiud chromatography (UHPLC)-MS in selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. In addition, we treated the flaxseed with edible acid or alkaline solutions for detoxication. The results showed that the levels of the linustatin and neolinustatin in flaxseed powder treated with acid were greatly reduced than in samples without treatment, but SDG could not be detected in samples treated with acid. The levels of SDG in samples treated with alkaline solution were much higher than in samples without treatment, and in general, the contents of linustatin and neolinustatin in flaxseed powder decreased progressively as heating time prolonged after treatment with alkaline solution.