Full Length Research Paper

Screening of Chinese brassica species for anti-cancer sulforaphane and erucin

Yuru You¹, Yuanfeng Wu^1*, Jianwei Mao¹, Ligen Zou² and Shiwang Liu¹

¹School of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China.

²Institute of Farming Products Processing, Hangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hanzhou 310024, China.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: wuyuanfeng@zj165.com. Tel: +86 571 8507 0372. Fax: +86 571 8507 0370.

Accepted 5 December, 2007

Natural sulforaphane and erucin have been of increasing interest for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries due to their anti-cancer effect. The sulforaphane and/or erucin contents in seeds of 43 different Chinese Brassica oleracea L. varieties were analyzed by HPLC and GC-MS. Among them, 21 cultivars seed meal (in 5 species, including Chinese kale, cabbage, kohlrabi, kale and broccoli) yielded sulforaphane and/or erucin. The results indicated that erucin was found mainly in cabbage and kohlrabi, and sulforaphane was found mainly in broccoli. The highest content of sulforaphane (1575.5 mg/kg) and erucin (2528.1 mg/kg) were found in Green Dragon I (broccoli) and Dongchunbao (cabbage), respectively. Crude sulforaphane and erucin were extracted in gram-scale; 1.266 g sulforaphane (purity: 78.2%) and 0.972 g erucin (purity: 65.6%) were obtained.

Key words: Sulforaphane, erucin, brassica seed, diet supplement.