Date palm fruit has been considered for centuries as an ancient nutritional constituent in the human diet. Recently, global trade in dates increased at an average that, simultaneously, will be accompanied by an increase in date palm byproducts. Supported by date phytochemicals and their health benefits, the aim of this work is to evaluate for the first time the presence of special metabolites of plant called phytoprostanes (PhytoPs) in five different varieties of the Phoenix dactylifera L. pulps and pits using a microLC-ESI-QTrap-MS/MS methodology. Results obtained showed the interest of using these matrices as potential sources of several PhytoPs (ent-16-B1-PhytoP; ent-9-L1-PhytoP; and epimers of ent-16-F1t-PhytoP and of 9-F1t-PhytoP). The variation in concentration between different varieties and different DPF parts was also evaluated. Results obtained will help to unravel the biological activities associated with DPF consumption that could be related to these bioactive metabolites.
Keywords: byproducts; mass spectrometry; oxylipins; palm dates; phytoprostanes.