Oleraceins are a class of indoline amide glycosides found in Portulaca oleracea L. (Portulacaceae), or purslane. These compounds are characterized by 5,6-dihydroxyindoline-2-carboxylic acid N-acylated with cinnamic acid derivatives, and many are glucosylated. Herein, hydromethanolic extracts of the aerial parts of purslane were subjected to UHPLC-Orbitrap-MS analysis, in negative ionization mode. Diagnostic ion filtering (DIF), followed by diagnostic difference filtering (DDF), were utilized to automatically filter out MS data and select plausible oleracein structures. After an in-depth MS2 analysis, a total of 51 oleracein compounds were tentatively identified. Of them, 26 had structures, matching one of the already known oleracein, and the other 25 were new, undescribed in the literature compounds, belonging to the oleracein class. Moreover, based on selected diagnostic fragment ions, clustering algorithms and visualizations were utilized. As we demonstrate, clustering methods provide valuable insights into the mass fragmentation elucidation of natural compounds in complex mixtures.
Keywords: clustering; diagnostic difference; diagnostic ion; oleracein; orbitrap; purslane.