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Wild neotropical blueberries, endemic of Central and South American areas, are promising yet still undisclosed sources of bioactive compounds. Most research studies have addressed wild and cultivated blueberries from Europe and North America, despite the extremely wide variety of wild neotropical species. In the present paper, for the first time, the phenolic composition of Disterigma alaternoides was investigated through ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass-spectrometric analysis followed by accurate data analysis and compound validation with a dedicated structure-based workflow. D. alaternoides, which belongs to a closely related genus to that of the common blueberry, grows exclusively in the Andean regions over 2000 above sea level. Thanks to the dedicated analytical platform, 249 phenolic compounds were tentatively identified, including several anthocyanins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and proanthocyanidins. Thenature and heterogeneity of identified phenolic compounds demonstrate once more the need for a more profound knowledge of such still uncharted matrices.

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Introduction Blueberries are known for their very high content of biologically active phenolic compounds; nonetheless, differently from the North American and European species of blueberries, Neotropical blueberries have not been extensively studied yet. Objectives In the present paper, the phenolic composition of Vaccinium floribundum Kunth, which is endemic to the Andean regions and grows 1,600 to 4,500 meters above sea level, was investigated by ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled to high‐resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC‐HRMS). Native and fermented berries were compared in terms of phenolic composition as well as antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and total anthocyanin content. Materials and Methods V. floribundum native and fermented berries were extracted and analyzed by UHPLC‐HRMS. The acquired datasets were processed by Compound Discoverer 3.1 using a dedicated data analysis workflow that was specifically set up for phenolic compound identification. Results In total, 309 compounds were tentatively identified, including anthocyanins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and proanthocyanidins. The molecular transformations of phenolic compounds during fermentation were comprehensively investigated for the first time, and by a customized data processing workflow, 13 quinones and quinone methides were tentatively identified in the fermented samples. Compared to other species of the genus Vaccinium, a peculiar phenolic profile is observed, with low abundance of highly methylated compounds. Conclusion Andean berries are a rich source of a wide variety of phenolic compounds. Untargeted MS analyses coupled to a dedicated data processing workflow allowed expanding the current knowledge on these berries, improving our understanding of the fate of phenolic compounds after fermentation.

Soybeans (Glycine max) are an excellent source of dietary proteins and peptides with potential biological activities, such as antihypertensive, anti-cholesterol, and antioxidant activity; moreover, they could prevent cancer. Also, soy contains all the essential amino acids for nutrition; therefore, it represents an alternative to animal proteins. The goal of this paper was the comprehensive characterization of medium-sized and short peptides (two to four amino acids) obtained from simulated gastrointestinal digestion. Two different analytical approaches were employed for peptide characterization, namely a common peptidomic analysis for medium-sized peptides and a suspect screening analysis for short peptides, employing an inclusion list of exact m/z values of all possible amino acid combinations. Moreover, fractionation by preparative reversed-phase liquid chromatography was employed to simplify the starting protein hydrolysate. Six fractions were collected and tested for antioxidative activity by an innovative antioxidant assay on human gastric adenocarcinoma AGS cell lines. The two most active fractions (2 and 3) were then characterized by a peptidomic approach and database search, as well as by a suspect screening approach, in order to identify potential antioxidant amino acid sequences. Some of the peptides identified in these two fractions have been already reported in the literature for their antioxidant activity.