Group of Chemistry and Biochemistry of Pigments, Food Phytochemistry Department, Instituto de la Grasa (CSIC), Campus Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Ctra. de Utrera km. 1, Seville, Spain
Abstract
The carotenoid composition of strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) fruits has been characterised in detail and quantified for the first time. According to the total carotenoid content (over 340 μg/g dw), mature strawberry tree berries can be classified as fruits with very high carotenoid content (>20 μg/g dw). (all-E)-Violaxanthin and 9Z-violaxanthin were found to be the major carotenoid pigments, accounting for more than 60%, responsible for the bright colour of the flesh of ripe fruits. In addition other 5,6-epoxide carotenoids, such as (all-E)-neoxanthin, (9′Z)-neoxanthin (all-E)-antheraxanthin and lutein 5,6-epoxide, together with (all-E)-lutein, (all-E)-zeaxanthin and (all-E)-β-carotene were found at high levels (>5-20 μg/g dw). The LC-MS (APCI+) analysis of the xanthophyll fraction in their native state (direct extract) revealed that most of them (>90%) were totally esterified with saturated fatty acids (capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic and stearic). Monoesters, homodiesters and heterodiesters of (all-E)-violaxanthin and 9Z-violaxanthin were the major pigments. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Author keywords
Arbutus unedo L.; Carotenoids; Fatty acids; GC; HPLC-DAD; LC-MS (APCI+); Xanthophyll esters
Indexed keywords
Engineering controlled terms: Esters; Fatty acids; Forestry; Palmitic acid; Pigments; Saturated fatty acids
Arbutus unedo l; Carotenoids; GC; HPLC-DAD; LC-MS (APCI+); Xanthophyll esters
Engineering main heading: Fruits
EMTREE drug terms: antheraxanthin; beta carotene; carotenoid; decanoic acid; lauric acid; myristic acid; neoxanthin; palmitic acid; stearic acid; unclassified drug; violaxanthin; xanthophyll; zeaxanthin
EMTREE medical terms: Arbutus unedo; Article; chemical composition; color; extraction; fruit; gas chromatography; high performance liquid chromatography; mass spectrometry; nonhuman; quantitative analysis; strawberry; tree
Chemicals and CAS Registry Numbers: beta carotene, 7235-40-7; decanoic acid, 334-48-5, 3398-75-2; lauric acid, 115-05-9, 143-07-7; myristic acid, 1715-79-3, 544-63-8; neoxanthin, 14660-91-4; palmitic acid, 57-10-3; stearic acid, 57-11-4, 646-29-7; violaxanthin, 126-29-4; xanthophyll, 127-40-2, 52842-48-5; zeaxanthin, 144-68-3
ISSN: 03088146 CODEN: FOCHDSource Type: Journal Original language: English
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.11.135Document Type: Article
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
