FoodComEx, a new chemical library useful for the polyphenol community

The lack of commercial standards for food-derived metabolites is a major limitation in nutritional metabolomics as well as for the study of health effects of polyphenol metabolites in cell models. FoodComEx (Food Compound Exchange) is a new chemical library initiated in the FoodBAll (Food Biomarkers Alliance) project (http://foodmetabolome.org) to facilitate the sharing of not easily accessible standards for food compounds and their human metabolites. FoodComEX will be a virtual library, with compounds stored in the laboratory where they have been isolated or synthesized. Version 1.0 will be an online catalog of pure compounds and reference materials (food extracts, biofluids from animals fed pure compounds, incubation media from in vitro systems to produce metabolites...) made available by academic laboratories. Each compound will appear with data such as physico-chemical properties, origin, purity, storage conditions, links to existing databases, type of spectral data available and contact details of the laboratory offering to share the standard. In the final version, which should be available at the end of 2016, spectral data (GC-MS, LC-MS, NMR, UV, IR) will be made searchable online. Anyone interested in one compound will directly contact the provider. A bilateral negotiation will define the terms of collaboration, within the rules defined in a charter of good practices. For example, the acquirer will have to share the spectral analyses acquired on his own analytical platform. This will continuously enrich FoodComEx contents. FoodComEx is a collaborative initiative widely open to new contributors and users. Anyone interested to contribute can contact us. Funding: JPI HDHL FoodBAll project (2015-2017)