CHARACTERIZATION OF PHENOLIC GLUCOSIDES FROM SOYBEAN ROOT-NODULES BY ION-EXCHANGE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY, ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROSCOPY AND ELECTROSPRAY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

Ion-exchange high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with an Ami nex column and photodiode-array detection was used to purify, from soy bean root nodules, highly polar phenolic acid conjugates that are reca lcitrant to isolation by conventional techniques based on reversed-pha se chemistry. HPLC, acid and enzymatic hydrolysis, ultraviolet spectro scopy, high resolution fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (MS) an d single and tandem electrospray MS were used to identify the 4-O-beta -glucosides of p-hydroxybenzoic, protocatechuic and vanillic acids (wh ich are reported in legumes for the first time) and the 5-O-beta-gluco side of gentisic acid. The four phenolic acids, as well as gallic acid and its methyl ester, were also found in soybean nodules, (C) 1998 Jo hn Wiley & Sons, Ltd.