The phenolic compounds of Ceratonia siliqua pulps and seeds (Les composes phenoliques des pulpes et des graines de Ceratonia siliqua)

The phenolic compounds of the pulps and seeds aqueous acetone extracts of the carobs tree (Ceratonia Siliqua), harvested from two areas (Izouika and Reggada) in the southwest of Morocco, were analysed using HPLC. High-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection are used for the identification and quantification of the phenolic compounds of these extracts, among which in particular the gallic acid, the syringic acid, the p-coumaric acid, the m-coumaric acid, the benzoic acid and the hydroxytyrosol. Generally, in both areas the extracts of the pulps are richer, qualitatively and quantitatively, in phenolic compounds towards those of the seeds. The phenolic profile of the pulp is dominated by the coumaric acid (20,52 % of Izouika against 17,05 % of Reggada) and the gallic acid (17,8 % of Izouika against 12,57 % of Reggada). In the extracts of seeds, coumaric acid and gallic acid are also majority phenolic acids, the coumaric acid represents 8,07 % in Izouika and 8,18 % in Reggada while the gallic acid represents 5,01 % in Izouika and 3,95 % in Reggada. The comparison of the results, obtained for the forest carob tree ( Reggada) and that of a cultivated Izouika, shows that globally the difference is not significant between the total phenols of pulps and seeds between both areas.