Direct measurement of total antioxidant capacity of cereals: QUENCHER-CUPRAC method

► Matrix-bound phenolics were forced to solubilize with coupled CUPRAC oxidation. ► The novel solubilization-oxidation assay is called the 'QUENCHER-CUPRAC' method. ► Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of cereals were determined in a single operation. ► QUENCHER-CUPRAC effectively evaluated both soluble and insoluble antioxidants. ► Proposed method gave higher TAC of cereals than others confirming better solubilization.