Use of reversed phase high pressure liquid cromatography for the physicochemical and thermodynamic characterization of oxyresveratrol/β-cyclodextrin complexes

Knowledge of the complexation process of oxyresveratrol with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) under different physicochemical conditions is essential if this potent antioxidant compound is to be used successfully in both food and pharmaceutical industries as ingredient of functional foods or nutraceuticals, despite its poor stability and bioavailability. In this paper, the complexation of oxyresveratrol with natural CDs was investigated for first time using RP-HPLC and mobile phases to which α-, β-, and γ-CD were added. Among natural CDs, the interaction of oxyresveratrol with β-CD was more efficient than with α- and γ-CD. The decrease in the retention times with increasing concentrations of β-CD (0–4 mM) showed that the formation constants (KF) of the oxyresveratrol/β-CD complexes were strongly dependent on both the water–methanol proportion and the temperature of the mobile phase employed. However, oxyresveratrol formed complexes with β-CD with a 1:1 stoichiometry in all the physicochemical conditions tested. Moreover, to obtain information about the mechanism of the oxyresveratrol affinity for β-CD, the thermodynamic parameters ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS° were obtained. Finally, to gain information on the effect of the structure of different compounds belonging to the stilbenoids family on the KF values, the complexation of other molecules, resveratrol, pterostilbene and pinosylvin, was studied and compared with the results obtained for the oxyresveratrol/β-CD complexes.