Comprehensive Determination of Furanocoumarin Derivatives in Citrus Juice by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

We studied a reverse phase HPLC method employing a simple acetonitrile: 0.1% phosphoric acid aqueous solution gradient as the mobile phase for the determination of furanocoumarin (FC) derivatives, such as bergamottin (BG) and 6',7'-dihydroxybergamottin (DHB), using UV detection. Anthracene was added to samples as an internal standard. A Capcell Pak SG-Phenyl column (4.6 mm [inner diameter] x 25 cm; particle size 5 mm; Shiseido) was used, and the flow rate was set at a constant 1 ml/min. A photodiode array detector was used because it reveals the characteristic UV-absorption spectrum of FCs, commonly with 311 nm as the maximum wavelength. Furanocoumarin derivatives in pomelo juice (PJ) were detected by the method and compared with those in grapefruit juice (GJ) and orange juice (OJ). GJ contained 3 kinds of FCs, BG, DHB and bergaptol (BT). OJ had no FCs. On the other hand, PJ contained 8 kinds of FCs including BT, BG and DHB. This FC detection system may be effective for identifying foods and beverages that interact adversely with drugs.