Extraction and analysis of non-volatile metabolites
The research group Food Chemistry possess an expertise in the extraction and analysis of natural products, with focus on food, drinks, and cosmetics applications.
Our field of expertise is wide:
- Characterization of plant secondary metabolites as markers of food and drink quality
- Characterization of the key taste-active compounds in plants to understand their impact on taste
- Characterization of plant and microbial metabolites to improve industrial processes
- Development of new bioactive ingredients from plant materials or side streams from food production for cosmetic applications
- 2D-UHPLC-QTOF → non-targeted analysis of plants, foods and beverages to gain more insights on the chemical composition of complex extracts. The technology allows complex analyses and visualization of the dataset using state-of-the-art techniques like molecular networks.
- UHPLC-TQ → targeted analysis of specific compounds of interest in plants, foods and beverages
- HPLC-UV-FLD → analysis and quantitation of compounds of interest (polyphenols, free amino acids, vitamins...)
- Flash chromatography/Preparative chromatography → fractionation of extracts and isolation of valuable compounds in order to understand their chemical structure, their biological activity and their impact on taste
- HPTLC → fast screening of selected secondary metabolites
- Oracle rapid NMR-based device → for fat, moisture, solids analysis
- Kjeldahl → for protein analysis
- Diverse photometric and enzymatic methods → for determination of total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, sugar, fibers or starch contents