Solid Phase Extraction of Phospholipids from Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa) and Their Characterization by Mass Spectrometry Analysis

Bruna R De Lima,Hector H.F Koolen,Felipe M.A Da Silva,Richardson A De Almeida,Afonso D.L De Souza

doi:10.5478/msl.2014.5.4.115

Abstract

The Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa - Lecythidaceae) is considered a product with high economic value, being a food widely appreciated for its nutritional qualities. Although previous studies have reported the biochemical composition of Brazil nut oil, the knowledge regarding the phospholipid composition exhibits a disagreement: the composition of fatty acids present in the structures of phospholipids is reported as being different from the composition of the free fatty acids present in the oil. In this work, solid phase extraction (SPE) was employed to provide a fast extraction of the phospholipids from Brazil nuts, in order to compare the phospholipid profile of the in nature nuts and their fatty acids precursor present in the oil. The major phospholipids were characterized by mass spectrometry approach. Their fragmentation pattern through direct infusion electrospray ionization ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-IT-MS2) proved to be useful to unequivocal characterization of these substances. High resolution (HR) experiments through ESI using a quadruple time of flight mass spectrometry (QTOF) system were performed to reinforce the identifications.

Highlights

Bertholletia excelsa (Lecythidaceae), an endemic species of the Amazon region, is a large tree that reaches 40-50 m tall
In the present work a selective solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure for phospholipid enrichment was employed for Brazil nut, being the identification of the main constituents performed by fragmentation pattern analysis through the direct infusion using electrospray ionization ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-ITMS2) and electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-quadruple time of flight mass spectrometry (QTOF)-MS)
A recent study performed with Brazil nut oil[4] described PI, phosphatidic acids (PA), PC and PE as the major classes of phospholipids, which have occurred at 31%, 24%, 24%, and 21% proportions respectively

Summary

Introduction

Bertholletia excelsa (Lecythidaceae), an endemic species of the Amazon region, is a large tree that reaches 40-50 m tall. Their fragmentation pattern through direct infusion electrospray ionization ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-IT-MS2) proved to be useful to unequivocal characterization of these substances.

Results

Conclusion