Abstract
The comprehensive identification of phenolic compounds in food and beverages is a crucial starting point for assessing their biological, nutritional, and technological properties. Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) has been described as a rich source of (poly)phenolic components, with a broad array of different structures (phenolic acids, flavonoids, and hydrolyzable tannins) and a quick, high throughput, and accurate screening of its complete profile is still lacking. In the present work, a method for UHPLC separation and linear ion trap mass spectrometric (MSn) characterization of pomegranate juice phenolic fraction was optimized by comparing several different analytical conditions. The best solutions for phenolic acids, anthocyanins, flavonoids, and ellagitannins have been delineated and more than 70 compounds have been identified and fully characterized in less than one hour total analysis time. Twenty-one compounds were tentatively detected for the first time in pomegranate juice. The proposed fingerprinting approach could be easily translated to other plant derived food extracts and beverages containing a wide array of phytochemical compounds.
Highlights
Comprehensive identification of phenolic compounds in food matrices is a crucial starting point for assessing their biological, nutritional, and technological properties [1]
The phytochemical fingerprint of pomegranate juice was determined using a ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC)-ESI-linear ion trap mass spectrometric detection (MS) operating in three complementary conditions
The use of UHPLC and minimal sample preparation accounted for the feasibility of this new accurate and rapid procedure for the screening of pomegranate juices
Summary
Comprehensive identification of phenolic compounds in food matrices is a crucial starting point for assessing their biological, nutritional, and technological properties [1]. The broad array of different (poly)phenolic structures (phenolic acids, flavonoids, and hydrolyzable tannins) [4,5,6,7] may make the accurate screening of their profile difficult. The most accurate approach carried out in order to assess the phenolic composition of pomegranate allowed the detection of 48 compounds belonging to several different (poly)phenolic groups [5]. The methodology proposed consisted of a hard long sample preparation and time-consuming chromatographic conditions (more than 3 h). These facts, besides a sample extraction that could alter chemical structures [15], make difficult its actual translation to routine analysis, in particular when large batches of samples have to be evaluated in a limited time
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