The mechanism of sulforaphene degradation to different water contents

Abstract Sulforaphene extracted from radish seeds was strongly associated with cancer prevention. However, sulforaphene was unstable in aqueous medium and at high temperature. This instability impairs many useful applications of sulforaphene. In this paper, the stability of sulforaphene (purity above 95%) during storage at −20 °C, 4 °C and 26 °C was studied. The degradation product was purified by preparative HPLC and identified by ESI/MS, NMR ( 1 H and 13 C NMR) and FTIR spectroscopy. The degradation pathway of sulforaphene was presented. Furthermore, we found that the degradation rate of sulforaphene was closely related to the water content of sulforaphene sample. The higher the water content was, the faster the sulforaphene sample degraded. A mathematical model was developed to predict the degradation constant at various water contents. It provided a guideline for industry to improve the stability of sulforaphene during preparation, application and storage.