Ethyl Gallate (EG)

Ethyl gallate is a food additive with E number E313. It is the ethyl ester of gallic acid. Ethyl gallate is added to food as an antioxidant. Though found naturally in a variety of plant sources including walnuts Terminalia myriocarpa or chebulic myrobolan (Terminalia chebula). Ethyl gallate is produced from gallic acid and ethanol. It can be found in wine.
An activity-directed fractionation and purification process was used to isolate 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPHradical dot) scavenging components from Juglans regia kernels. Ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions showed greater DPPHradical dot scavenging activities compared to those of water and petroleum ether fractions. The ethyl acetate fraction was subjected to purification using column chromatography.