Anthocyanin pigments from purple corn are being explored as a potential alternative to artificial colorants and for their health-promoting properties. However, all pericarp-pigmented corn varieties examined to date primarily contain cyanidin-derived anthocyanins, which produce bluish-red or pink extracts. Here we describe the first pelargonidin-dominant pericarp-pigmented corn lines from the landrace Apache Red (AR). Anthocyanins were characterized from six AR families using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). From this, we identified two new flavanol-anthocyanin condensed forms in corn: catechin-(4,8)-pelargonidin 3,5-diglucoside and afzelechin-(4,8)-pelargonidin 3,5-diglucoside, which were subsequently confirmed with NMR. Additionally, several apigenin-derived C-glycosyl flavones were identified in abundance. With a diverse flavonoid profile containing an array of different anthocyanin species and flavones, Apache Red will be an important line in which to study control of the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway.
Keywords: anthocyanin; flavanol-anthocyanin condensed forms; flavone; purple corn.