The strong acid hydrolysis analysis of galloyl-O-digalloyl-type ellagitannins (ETs), lambertianin C (LC) and sanguiin H-6, and dehydrodigalloyl-type ET, agrimoniin (AM), was performed. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the degradation products of individual ETs was conducted using high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detecto-electrospray ionization interface-mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS). The data indicate that ETs undergo multidirectional changes in a strongly acidic environment, where the process of successive hydrolysis of ester bonds to form ellagic acid (EA) is the dominant phenomenon in the initial phase of the reaction, followed by the depolymerization process and the formation of low-molecular ETs. Characteristic products of ET hydrolysis were distinguished: for LC: dimeric ET plus one galloyl moiety without one EA moiety (M = 1736 Da), for all analyzed ETs: sanguisorbic acid dilactone (M = 470 Da), and for AM: dehydrodigallic acid (M = 338 Da). The research carried out has allowed to create a database of possible products and routes of transformation of individual ETs, which should facilitate future research on the transformation of ETs, including potential prohealth properties of its breakdown products, under conditions occurring during food processing or digestion.
Keywords: HPLC−MS; acidic hydrolysis; agrimoniin; dehydrodigallic acid; galloyl; lambertianin C; sanguiin H-6; sanguisorbic acid.