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Characterization of the pigment fraction in sweet bell peppers ( Capsicum annuum L.) harvested at green and overripe yellow and red stages by offline multidimensional convergence chromatography/liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry
Author(s) -
Bonaccorsi Ivana,
Cacciola Francesco,
Utczas Margita,
Inferrera Veronica,
Giuffrida Daniele,
Donato Paola,
Dugo Paola,
Mondello Luigi
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of separation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.72
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1615-9314
pISSN - 1615-9306
DOI - 10.1002/jssc.201600220
Subject(s) - chemistry , chromatography , xanthophyll , mass spectrometry , capsicum annuum , pigment , supercritical fluid , carotenoid , high performance liquid chromatography , supercritical fluid chromatography , analytical chemistry (journal) , pepper , food science , organic chemistry
Offline multidimensional supercritical fluid chromatography combined with reversed‐phase liquid chromatography was employed for the carotenoid and chlorophyll characterization in different sweet bell peppers ( Capsicum annuum L.) for the first time. The first dimension consisted of an Acquity HSS C 18 SB (100 × 3 mm id, 1.8 μm particles) column operated with a supercritical mobile phase in an ultra‐performance convergence chromatography system, whereas the second dimension was performed in reversed‐phase mode with a C 30 (250 × 4.6 mm id, 3.0 μm particles) stationary phase combined with photodiode array and mass spectrometry detection. This approach allowed the determination of 115 different compounds belonging to chlorophylls, free xanthophylls, free carotenes, xanthophyll monoesters, and xanthophyll diesters, and proved to be a significant improvement in the pigments determination compared to the conventional one‐dimensional liquid chromatography approach so far applied to the carotenoid analysis in the studied species. Moreover, the present study also aimed to investigate and to compare the carotenoid stability and composition in overripe yellow and red bell peppers collected directly from the plant, thus also evaluating whether biochemical changes are linked to carotenoid degradation in the nonclimacteric investigated fruits, for the first time.