Effect of heat treatment on phenolic composition and radical scavenging activity of olive leaf extract at different pH conditions‐a spectroscopic and kinetic study

BACKGROUND: The present study focused on the effect of isothermal treatment (5–90 °C) and pH (2.0–6.0) of aqueous olive leaf phenolic extract solutions on the kinetics of degradation of single and total phenolic compounds and radical scavenging activity, with the objective of predicting and optimizing the thermal treatments in foods enriched with olive leaf extracts. RESULTS: The major compound, oleuropein, showed higher degradation at low pH 2.0 and temperature-dependent reaction rates, which fitted well a first-order kinetic model, with an estimated activation energy of 98.03 ± 0.08 kJ mol−1. Oleuropein hydrolysis resulted in a zero-order increase in hydroxytyrosol concentration at same pH (Ea = 71.59 ± 1.5 kJ mol−1), whereas a 100-fold slower degradation rate was observed at higher pH. Verbascoside was only degraded at pH 6.0, also following first-order kinetics. These changes in oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol concentrations led to significant changes in fluorescence maximum intensities centered around 315 and 360 nm and in the 425–500 nm spectral zone for samples at pH 6.0, which could be associated with verbacoside degradation. Conversely, analysis of total phenolic content and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical scavenging activity showed little changes, indicating a rather constant overall reducing capacity of the resulting pool of compounds after thermal treatments. CONCLUSION: The present study can contribute to the knowledge related to oleuropein and phenolic fraction degradation as a result of matrix (pH) and processing. The kinetic parameters obtained could be applied for predicting and optimizing the thermal treatments in foods and drinks enriched with olive leaf extracts.