Chayote, the fruit of Sechium edule (Jacq.) Swartz, is known for culinary applications and in traditional medicine. A great number of its health benefits have been related to its phenolic composition. However, literature concerning the characterization of phenolic compounds in chayote is scarce. Therefore, this work highlights new information about the composition of chayote. For that, different hydro-alcoholic mixtures (50-100% ethanol content) were used to recover phenolic compounds by ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) and the platform HPLC-ESI-TOF-MS was employed to characterize these components in the fruit. Briefly, 26 compounds, classified as phenolic acids, flavonoids and other polar compounds were identified in the fruit. About the effect of ethanol ratio on phenolic extraction, 70% ethanol exhibited the best recovery of target compounds (188 ± 2 mg/100 g fruit d.w.). Chayote is rich in flavones accounting for a 60.6% from the total compounds quantified and the major compound is diosmetin 7-O-rutinoside (23.8%).
Keywords: Chayote; Cucurbitaceae; Flavones; HPLC-ESI-TOF-MS; Phenolic compounds; Sechium edule.
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