Tomato is an important agricultural crop world-wide. Their pigments are very important in many ways. They have been associated with health benefits such as lowering the risk of some chronic diseases. Quantification of chlorophylls by spectrophotometry and Identification of carotenoids using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, and quantification by HPLC-DAD was carried out in the exocarp and mesocarp of tomato fruit during 6 different ripeness stages (mature-green, breakers, turning, pink, light-red and red). Four carotenoids have been followed during ripening; β-carotene and lycopene were unequivocally identified, whereas γ-carotene and lycopene-epoxide were tentatively identified. Differences between exocarp and mesocarp were as follows: Most of the ripening period, fruit exocarp had higher quantities of both chlorophyll and carotenoids than mesocarp. In both, exocarp and mesocarp, chlorophylls drastically decreased, lycopene significantly increased, while β-carotene, γ-carotene and lycopene-epoxide only increased slightly during fruit ripening.
Keywords: Carotenoids; Chlorophyll; Lycopene; Lycopersicon esculentum; ß-Carotene.