BIOPHENOL-PROTEIN SUPRAMOLECULAR MODELS BY FAST-ATOM-BOMBARDMENT MASS-SPECTROMETRIC EXPERIMENTS

Biomimetic supramolecular formation between hydroxytyrosol, a biopheno l found in olives and virgin olive oil, and caffeine or Asp-Phe, as pr oteic models, has been achieved by FAB-mass spectrometric experiments. The protonated supermolecules show a consistently higher difference i n stability constants, thus indicating a preferential molecular recogn ition site provided by caffeine, the biomimetic model of proline-rich mucoproteins. The spontaneous aggregation of the complementary supramo lecular components suggests correlations with the sensorial response a nd the bioavailability of food biophenols.