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What Are Plant Phenolics?
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8,000 Phenolic structures known
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Account for 40% of organic carbon circulating in the
biosphere
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Evolution of vascular plants: in cell wall structures, plant
defense, features of woods and barks, flower color, flavors.
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Dietary Antioxidants
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Core to bioactivity of many supplements
Challenges of Phenolic Analysis
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Multiple Analytes – > 8000 known compounds
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Lack of Standards – Many compounds are not
available as commercial standards.
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Standards are expensive and of uncertain purity
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Many are unstable, particularly for quantitative
analysis