Determining the true content of quercetin and its derivatives in plants employing SSDM and LC–MS analysis

European Food Research and Technology, Jun 2016

Reliable plant analysis is a challenging task due to the physical character and chemical complexity of plant matrices. First of all, it requires the application of a proper sample preparation procedure to fully isolate the analyzed substances from the plant matrix. The high-temperature liquid–solid extraction is commonly applied for this purpose. In the light of recently published results, however, the application of high-temperature extraction for polyphenolics analysis in plants is disputable as it causes their transformation leading to erroneous quantitative estimations of these compounds. Experiments performed on different plants show that the transformation/degradation of quercetin and its glycosides is not induced by sea sand disruption method (SSDM) and prove the method to be most appropriate for the estimation of quercetin and its derivatives in plants. What is more, the application of SSDM in plant analysis allows the researcher, to determine which quercetin derivatives are native plant components and what is their true concentration. In other word, the application of SSDM in plant analysis eliminates errors in the study of plant metabolism involving quercetin and its derivatives.

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Determining the true content of quercetin and its derivatives in plants employing SSDM and LC–MS analysis

Determining the true content of quercetin and its derivatives in plants employing SSDM and LC-MS analysis Dorota Wianowska 0 Andrzej L. Dawidowicz 0 Katarzyna Bernacik 0 Rafał Typek 0 0 Department of Chromatographic Methods, Faculty of Chemistry, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University , Pl. Maria Curie-Sklodowska 3, 20-031 Lublin , Poland 1 Dorota Wianowska Reliable plant analysis is a challenging task due to the physical character and chemical complexity of plant matrices. First of all, it requires the application of a proper sample preparation procedure to fully isolate the analyzed substances from the plant matrix. The high-temperature liquid-solid extraction is commonly applied for this purpose. In the light of recently published results, however, the application of high-temperature extraction for polyphenolics analysis in plants is disputable as it causes their transformation leading to erroneous quantitative estimations of these compounds. Experiments performed on different plants show that the transformation/degradation of quercetin and its glycosides is not induced by sea sand disruption method (SSDM) and prove the method to be most appropriate for the estimation of quercetin and its derivatives in plants. What is more, the application of SSDM in plant analysis allows the researcher, to determine which quercetin derivatives are native plant components and what is their true concentration. In other word, the application of SSDM in plant analysis eliminates errors in the study of plant metabolism involving quercetin and its derivatives. Sea sand disruption method; Quercetin derivatives; Rutin transformation; Compound degradation; Plant analysis; Sample preparation Introduction Quercetin is one of the most widely distributed polyphenolics in plants. This aglycone compound occurs in fruits, vegetables, leaves and grains, often in the form of glycoside derivatives. Rutin (quercetin-3-O-rutinoside), isoquercitrin (quercetin-3-O-glucoside) and quercitrin (quercetin-3-Orhamnoside) are the most ubiquitous quercetin glycosides [ 1 ]. In view of the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties of quercetin and its glycosides, research interest in the natural occurrence and medical properties of these compounds has been growing [ 2–4 ]. Reliable plant analysis is a challenging task due to the physical character and chemical complexity of plant matrices. First of all, it requires the application of a proper sample preparation procedure to fully isolate the analyzed substances from the plant matrix. The high-temperature liquid–solid extraction is commonly applied for this purpose. Yet, the results reported in the literature [ 5–8 ] reveal that the high-temperature extraction of polyphenolics with methanol and its water mixtures, i.e. the extractants typically used for the isolation of phenolics from plants, not only causes the hydrolysis of glycosides but also results in the formation of alcoholic derivatives of glycosides and aglycones, and in degradation of the latter. In the light of these findings, the application of high-temperature extraction as a sample preparation technique for polyphenolics analysis in plants is disputable and makes the results obtained for a given plant unreliable. These doubts are justified by the results presented in our earlier work [9] showing that at least 23 compounds are formed from rutin, the most abundant quercetin glycoside, during its extraction under reflux. Recently, research work has been focused on sample preparation methods which would limit or even eliminate the degradation/transformation of the analyzed plant constituents. One of such method is the sea sand disruption method (SSDM) combining the homogenization, extraction and purification processes into a single step [ 8, 10 ]. There are many examples showing that the effectiveness of this simple, quick and cheap low-temperature method is an alternative not only to the traditional high-temperature solvent extractions (under reflux and in the Soxhlet apparatus) but also to the supported ones (pressurized liquid extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, ultrasound-assisted solvent extraction and microwave-assisted solvent extraction) [ 10–13 ]. This paper presents and discusses the results of research work on the application of SSDM for the evaluation of the true content of quercetin and its derivatives in the following plants: flowers of black elder (Sambucus nigra L.) and hawthorn (Crataegus L.); leaves of green tea, nettle (Urtica dioica L.) and yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis A.St.-Hil.); the heartsease herb (Viola tricolor Linn.), St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum L.), and artichoke (Cynara cardunculus) flower buds. The results obtained using SSDM are compared to those revealed by the traditional extraction under reflux. Materials and methods Plant material and chemicals The following plants were used in the experiments: flowers of black elder (S. nigra L.) and hawthorn (Crataegus L (...truncated)


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Dorota Wianowska, Andrzej L. Dawidowicz, Katarzyna Bernacik, Rafał Typek. Determining the true content of quercetin and its derivatives in plants employing SSDM and LC–MS analysis, European Food Research and Technology, 2017, pp. 27-40, Volume 243, Issue 1, DOI: 10.1007/s00217-016-2719-8