RESUMO
This study was conducted to optimise the extraction conditions of phenolic compounds to evaluate antioxidant extraction parameters and to identify the major free and bound phenolic compounds in olive seeds. The results obtained using methanol as an extraction solvent for olive seeds indicated that the optimised total phenolic content and antioxidant activity were obtained at an extraction time of 12 h, an extraction temperature of 70°C and an extraction cycle of three stages. The correlation coefficient between total phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities was positive (R² = 0.83). The major finding is that the predominant phenolic compounds in olive seeds were present in free form. However, a small percentage of the bound phenolic compounds was found in olive seeds compared to that of the free phenolic compounds. This study recommends that olive seeds with optimised extraction conditions (i.e. optimised correlation between phenolic compound contents and antioxidant activities) can be used as potential food additive candidates in functional, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries.