Comparative Studies of Extracts Obtained from <i>Brassica oleracea</i> L. Plants at Different Stages of Growth by Isolation and Determination of Isothiocyanates: An Assessment of Chemopreventive Properties of Broccoli

Abstract

The main goal of this work was to develop analytical procedures for the isolation and determination of selected isothiocyanates. As an example, particularly sulforaphane from plants of the Brassicaceae Burnett or Cruciferae Juss family. The applied methodology was mainly based on classical extraction methods and high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Moreover, the effect of temperature on the release of isothiocyanates from plant cells was considered. The cytotoxic activity of the obtained plant extracts against a selected cancer cell line has also been included. The results allow evaluating the usefulness of obtained plant extracts and raw sprouts regarding their content of isothiocyanates—bioactive compounds with chemopreventive properties.

Keywords

• isothiocyanates
• sulforaphane
• extraction
• spectroscopy
• liquid chromatography
• mass spectrometry