Characterisation of 11S protein fractions and phenolic compounds from green coffee beans under special consideration of their interactions - A review

The intention of this study was to increase the knowledge on the composition and structure of coffee bean proteins and the changes induced in them especially with regard to their interactions with the phenolic compounds also present. For this purpose green coffee beans were extracted by means of standard methanol extraction to quantify the chlorogenic acid content. Different solubilisation buffers were applied to extract the protein fractions with or without prior fat removal. The protein samples thus obtained were analysed by different methods (RP-HPLC, SDS-PAGE and SELDI-TOF-MS). Preliminary model studies were performed to characterize the interactions between the isolated green coffee protein fractions and chlorogenic acid (the major phenolic compound in coffee beans) with the intention of fulfilling the ultimate goal of characterizing such reactions in roasted coffee. The results show that the content of chlorogenic bound covalently to the protein increases. A reaction with the nucleophilic protein side chains (tryptophan, cystein and lysine) was recorded. Cross-inked protein polymers were also detected, whereby the a-chain was found to be more reactive. These reactions effect the solubility of the coffee bean proteins, the latter in turn becoming more acidic in nature. The secondary structure was affected only slightly as determined by circular dichroism. The in-vitro tryptic digestibility was also influenced, where again the cc-chain seems to be more susceptible. The observed polymerisation due to derivatisation by chorogenic acid declines the digestion. Similar digestion behaviour was also observed during tryptic hydrolysis of roasted coffee compared to that of green coffee, roasting allowing more stronger denaturation caused by the accompanying Maillard reaction. The derivatised green coffee bean proteins were found to have moderate antioxidative capacity.