Analysis of avenanthramides in oats with Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

Avenanthramides have been shown to have beneficial properties such as strong antioxidant activity and anti-inflammatory effects in humans, and are a key defence molecule for oats. The goal of this project was to create and validate a method for quantification of avenanthramides in oats that would take less than 20 minutes. A new extraction method and new liquid chromatography method were tested, as well as the introduction of an internal standard to improve quantification. We found that the internal standard selected was not stable during extraction and that it was necessary to use an external standard curve. We found that the liquid chromatography method was reproducible for standard compounds and that we could get separation of the three main avenathramides in oats for a total run time of 15 minutes. The extraction component of the method requires further work to improve recovery and stability before this method can be used for quantification of avenanthramides in oats.