Polyphenol profile comparisons of seed coats of five pulse crops using a semi-quantitative liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric method.

The LC-MS method reported herein was used to show polyphenol diversity within several polyphenol classes among the pulse crop seed coats. Detected in all seed coats, flavonols and hydroxybenzoic acids appear well-conserved in the edible Fabaceae. The presence of anthocyanins, flavan-3-ols and proanthocyanins in the coloured seed coats suggests that unique divergent branches were introduced in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway, possibly in response to environmental stressors.