Carotenoid esters in foods - A review and practical directions on analysis and occurrence

Adriana Zerlotti Mercadante; Daniele B Rodrigues; Fabiane C Petry; Lilian Regina Barros Mariutti

doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2016.12.018

Carotenoid esters in foods - A review and practical directions on analysis and occurrence

Food Res Int. 2017 Sep;99(Pt 2):830-850. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2016.12.018. Epub 2016 Dec 28.

Authors

Adriana Zerlotti Mercadante¹, Daniele B Rodrigues², Fabiane C Petry², Lilian Regina Barros Mariutti³

Affiliations

¹ Food Research Center (FoRC), Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), 13083-862 Campinas, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: azmercadante@gmail.com.
² Food Research Center (FoRC), Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), 13083-862 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
³ Department of Food and Nutrition, Faculty of Food Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), 13083-862 Campinas, SP, Brazil.

PMID: 28847421
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2016.12.018

Abstract

Carotenoids are naturally found in both free form and esterified with fatty acids in most fruits and some vegetables; however, up to now the great majority of studies presents data on carotenoid composition only after saponification. The reasons for this approach are that a single xanthophyll can be esterified with several different fatty acids, generating a great number of different compounds with similar chemical and structural characteristics, thus, increasing the complexity of analysis compared to the respective saponified extract. This means that since UV/Vis spectrum does not change due to esterification, differentiation between free and acylated xanthophylls is dependent at least on elution order and mass spectrometry (MS) features. The presence of interfering compounds, especially triacylglycerides (TAGs), in the non-saponified extract of carotenoids can also impair carotenoid ester analyses by MS due to high background noise and ionization suppression since TAGs can be present in much higher concentrations than the carotenoid esters. This leads to the need of development of new and effective clean-up procedures to remove the potential interferents. In addition, only few standards of xanthophyll esters are commercially available, making identification and quantification of such compounds even more difficult. Xanthophyll esterification may also alter some properties of these compounds, including solubility, thermostability and bioavailability. Considering that commonly consumed foods are dietary sources of xanthophyll esters and that it is the actual form of ingestion of such compounds, an increasing interest on the native carotenoid composition of foods is observed nowadays. This review presents a compilation of the current available information about xanthophyll ester analyses and occurrence and a practical guide for extraction, pre-chromatographic procedures, separation and identification by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Keywords: Bioavailability; C(30) column; Elution order; Fruits; HPLC; Mass spectrometry; Review; Xanthophyll ester.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Carotenoids / analysis*
Chromatography, Liquid*
Diet
Esters / analysis*
Fatty Acids / analysis*
Food Analysis / methods*
Fruit / chemistry*
Tandem Mass Spectrometry*
Vegetables / chemistry*

Substances

Esters
Fatty Acids
Carotenoids