An improved analytical depolymerization method for characterizing condensed tannins was developed with menthofuran (3,6-dimethyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1-benzofuran) as the nucleophilic trapping reagent. Herein, menthofuran was compared with routinely used nucleophiles, phloroglucinol and 2-mercaptoethanol. At 30 °C and in the presence of 0.1 M HCl, menthofuran displayed the outstanding ability to enable the fast and full depolymerization of procyanidin B2 using only a 1:1 molar ratio of both reactants. Under the same conditions, phloroglucinol and 2-mercaptoethanol led to a reaction equilibrium with significantly lower conversion yields. Application to commercial tannin extracts showed that a menthofuran-to-extract weight ratio of 1 gave the same yields of procyanidin constitutive units as 10-fold higher molecular equivalent phloroglucinol and 100-fold 2-mercaptoethanol. Finally, guidelines for implementing the menthofuran depolymerization method are proposed to assess the tannin content and composition of extracts as well as of plant materials without prior extraction.

An original method has been set up to produce fully biobased phenolic building blocks from condensed tannins, largely available from agroindustrial residues or wood industry coproducts. The acid-catalyzed depolymerization of condensed tannins in the presence of furan or sylvan in mild conditions (30−40 °C, 0.1 M HCl) gives the corresponding furylated flavonoids with high yields. The reaction was more efficient with sylvan than with the less nucleophilic furan. A key feature of the products is the high stability of the flavanyl to furyl C−C linkage compared to the thioether bond obtained by the classical thiolysis, which makes them promising platform molecules for further functionalization, including in alkaline conditions. The simplicity of the process makes it easy to scale-up, and the reaction can be carried out on raw plant materials directly. In accordance with green chemistry concepts, solvents and excess reagents can readily be recovered by distillation and recycled.

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