New compounds obtained by enzymatic oxidation of phloridzin

Oxidation of phloridzin was studied in a model system in the presence of apple polyphenol oxidase. In addition to 3-hydroxy phloridzin, two major oxidation products were purified by reversed phase HPLC at the semi-preparative scale. Their structures were elucidated by UV, ESI-MSn and NMR spectroscopies. The first compound was a colourless product, whose novel structure strongly differs from its precursor showing a biphenyl moiety and a propionic acid chain. The second product was an oxidised form of the first one and corresponded to a stable yellow pigment with two isomeric forms. A mechanism of formation of these products, which implied successive oxidation and nucleophilic addition steps was proposed.