Flavonoids and furocoumarins distribution of unripe chinotto (Citrus x myrtifolia Rafinesque) fruit: beverage processing homogenate and juice characterization.

摘要

The present study reports for the first time qualitative and quantitative data about flavonoids and furocoumarins distribution of unripe Citrus x myrtifolia Rafinesque homogenate, used as ingredient of the popular soft drink Chinotto. No data are available in literature about the chemical characterization of flavonoids and furocoumarins of the chinotto homogenate used to produce the industrial extract. Samples for analysis were therefore processed to better reproduce the crude materials used to obtain industrial chinotto extract: the whole fruits were cut in half, seeds removed, softly squeezed discarding part of the juice, and homogenized in small pieces. The polyphenolics separation was made by HPLC-PDA detector coupled to ESI/MS/MS in positive and negative mode. It has allowed the identification and relative quantification of 16 compounds, among which the flavone-C-glycoside lucenin-2, the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl flavanone glycoside melitidin and five polymethoxylated flavones have been detected for the first time in Citrus x myrtifolia. The flavonoids and furocoumarins distribution was compared with one of the Citrus x myrtifolia juice, and the antioxidant activity of both samples was assessed by ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity)-fluorescein assay. copyright Springer-Verlag 2011.