HPLC-MSn identification and quantification of flavonol glycosides in 28 wild and cultivated berry species

Abstract

Berries and red fruits are rich dietary sources of polyphenols with reported health benefits. More than 50 different flavonols (glycosides of quercetin, myricetin, kaempferol, isorhamnetin, syringetin and laricitrin) have been detected and quantified with HPLC-MS(n) in fruits of blueberry, bilberry, cranberry, lingonberry, eastern shadbush, Japanese wineberry, black mulberry, chokeberry, red, black and white currants, jostaberry, red and white gooseberry, hardy kiwifruit, goji berry, rowan, dog rose, Chinese and midland hawthorn, wild and cultivated species of blackberry, raspberry, strawberry and elderberry. The phenolic constituents and contents varied considerably among the analyzed berry species. Elderberry contained the highest amount of total flavonols (450-568 mgkg(-1) FW), followed by berry species, containing more than 200 mgkg(-1) FW of total: chokeberry (267mgkg(-1)), eastern shadbush (261 mgkg(-1)), wild grown blackberry (260 mgkg(-1)), rowanberry (232 mgkg(-1)), american cranberry (213 mgkg(-1)) and blackcurrants (204 mgkg(-1)). Strawberry (10.5 mgkg(-1)) and white currants (4.5 mgkg(-1)) contained the lowest amount of total flavonols. Quercetins represent the highest percentage (46-100%) among flavonols in most analyzed berries. In wild strawberry and gooseberry the prevailing flavonols belong to the group of isorhamnetins (50-62%) and kaempferols, which represent the major part of flavonols in currants (49-66%). Myricetin glycosides could only be detected in chokeberry, rowanberry and species from the Grossulariaceae, and Adoxaceae family and Vaccinium genus. Wild strawberry and blackberry contained from 3- to 5-fold higher total flavonols than the cultivated one.