Fast Punicalagin Content Analysis of Various Brands of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Juices by UPLC-MS

Abstract

Punica granatum L., commonly known as pomegranate, has a good source of bioactive polyphenolic compounds that
 has been widely used as a traditional Chinese herbal medicine owing to their important biological properties including
 cardiovascular disease, arthritis, diabetes, and cancer. Commercial pomegranate juice is generally obtained via pressing
 whole pomegranate and its peels. Then, the most abundant ingredient, punicalagin, can be extracted into the juice. However, punicalagin levels may vary in commercial pomegranate juice and it can range from 0.017 to 2 g/L. In this study, we
 analyzed punicalagin content from six different brands of pomegranate juices by using UPLC-MS method. First, punicalagin
 standards were prepared from 50 µM to 5 µM in buffer A (0.1% formic acid in water) and standard calibration curve was
 created. After that, three mass tune parameters including ionization voltage, desolvation temperature and source temperature of ESI source were optimized to obtain better peak shapes and correct quantification of the α- and β- isomer peaks of
 punicalagin. After analysis of six different brands of pomegranate juices, it was seen that punicalagin levels from different
 juice samples varied from 0.007 to 0.3 g/L.