ESR spectra of the olive phenolics oleuropein and keracyanin in the solid state

Full text: Olives and extra virgin olive oil, are known to be very rich in antioxidants, most of which are phenolics, such as oleuropein, a derivative of catechol: the 'catechol' ring is separated, and effectively isolated electrically from the other (6-sided) ring. The main anthocyanin in olives in keracyanin (cyanidin-3-0-rutinoside). Solid samples of these two phenolics, and of catechol, were examined by ESR using a Varian E-12 spectrometer (x-band: ∼9.1 GHz) at room temperature. All three samples gave single unstructured lines of ∼ 10g. width with g-vales close to 2. The presence of these free radical signal shows the antioxidant action of these phenolics, even in the solid state. We believe this is first observation of free radicals in olive phenolics