3. Results and discussion
3.1. Characterisation of the interaction between α-La and CA or EGCG
3.1.1. Determination of total phenolic content
Total phenolic contents of α-La–CA or EGCG covalent complex were expressed as CA or EGCG equivalents (Table 1). The total phenolic contents of α-La–CA or EGCG complex were higher than those of control α-La. This result indicated that both CA and EGCG could covalently interact with α-La to some extent and this increased the total phenolic content of α-La, which was in agreement with that reported by Aewsiri et al. (2010), who demonstrated that oxidised phenolic compounds were covalently attached to gelatin. For α-La interacted with CA, the phenolic content was lower than that with EGCG (p < 0.05). The native EGCG and CA had higher total phenolic contents than had α-La–EGCG and α-La–CA complexes (p < 0.05). After the treatment at pH 8.0, 60 °C for 24 h, the total phenolic contents of CA and EGCG were significantly decreased (p < 0.05).ignificance level, using the LSD method.