Determination of polyphenols in Chinese jujube using ultra-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

Abstract

Abstract The polyphenolic composition of the same variety of winter jujube was determined using ultra-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS). A metabolomic approach was employed to determine polyphenols at different developmental stages (S1, S2, and S3). The total phenolic content of Chinese jujube was quantified, and the metabolites were statistically analyzed using orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) for differential metabolite screening and clustering analysis of key components. The findings revealed that 128 polyphenolic components of Chinese jujube had been identified. Different developmental periods could not be clearly distinguished in principal component analysis, and there was a crossover between S2 and S3 stages. In contrast, the OPLS-DA score plot could effectively distinguish between samples of different developmental periods, and its differential metabolites could be visualized by a volcano plot based on OPLS-DA. Ten phenolic differential metabolites in different developmental periods were clustered and analyzed, among which N′-p-coumaroylguanidinium, N-p-coumaroylbutylamine, caffeoyl guanidinium, N-feruloyl guanidinium, pianoside, isorhamnetin 5-O-hexoside, isorhamnetin O-acetyl-hexoside, quercetin, and lignan O-hexosyl-O-pentoside were higher in the S1 period and chrysoeriol 6-C-hexoside was higher in the S2 and S3 periods. In this study, the differences in jujube polyphenols were elucidated, which provided scientific guidance for the application of jujube polyphenols.