Insight into the characterization of commercial oenological tannins

The characterization in terms of phenolics, antioxidant capacity and oxygen consumption rate (OCR) was carried out for 15 commercial oenological tannins of different origin. A NMR approach was used to evaluate their average molecular weight, and their glycosidic and aromatic moieties. The investigated oenological tannins showed wide differences in their chemical properties. Total phenol index (TPI) ranged from 461±28 and 1018±57 mg gallic acid/g for cherry tannin and nut gall tannin, respectively. The antioxidant capacity, positively correlated with TPI, was higher for hydrolysable tannins ranging 3.05±0.06 and 12.06±0.71 mM Trolox/g for ABTS assay, and from 3.70±0.23 and 10.94±1.28 mM Trolox/g for DPPH assay. Relevant differences in OCRs were found and chestnut tannin showed the highest OCR. Wide range of molecular weights were found with nut gall 1 tannin showing the highest one, ranging from 790 to 1900 Da. This study improves and expands the actual knowledge of tannins supporting the suitability of NMR for the characterization of oenological tannins.