Phenolic compounds in chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) heartwood. Effect of toasting at cooperage.

The phenolic and tannic composition of heartwood extracts from Castanea sativa Mill., before and after toasting in cooperage, were studied using HPLC-DAD and HPLC-DAD/ESI-MS, and some low molecular weight phenolic compounds and hydrolyzable tannins were found. The low molecular weight phenolic compounds were lignin constituents as the acids gallic, protocatechuic, vanillic, syringic, ferulic, and ellagic, the aldehydes protocatechuic, vanillic, syringic, coniferylic, and sinapic, and the coumarin scopoletin. Their patterns were somewhat different those of oak because oak does not contain compounds such protocatechuic acid and aldehyde and is composed of much lower amounts of gallic acid than chestnut. Vescalagin and castalagin were the main ellagitannins, and acutissimin was tentatively identified for the first time in this wood. Moreover, some gallotannins were tentatively identified, including different isomers of di, tri, tetra, and pentagalloyl glucopyranose, and di and trigalloyl-hexahydroxydiphenoyl glucopyranose, comprising 20 different compounds, as well as some ellagic derivatives such as ellagic acid deoxyhexose, ellagic acid dimer dehydrated, and valoneic acid dilactone. These ellagic derivatives as well as some galloyl and hexahydroxydiphenoyl derivatives were tentatively identified for the first time in this wood. The profile of tannins was therefore different from that of oak wood because oak only contains tannins of the ellagitannins type. Seasoned and toasted chestnut wood showed a very different balance between lignin derivatives and tannins because toasting resulted in the degradation of tannins and the formation of low molecular weight phenolic compounds from lignin degradation. Moreover, the different toasting levels provoked different balances between tannins and lignin constituents because the intensity of lignin and tannin degradation was in relation to the intensity of toasting.