Context: Euterpe oleracea Mart. (Arecaceae) fruits and their dietary supplements are gaining much popularity internationally. Anthocyanins and their aglycons are responsible for the dense color of açaí fruit and are associated with a wide spectrum of health promoting effects.
Objective: Quantitative analysis of anthocyanins in açaí dietary supplement raw materials; processed açaí powder (ADSR-1), organic açaí powder (ADSR-2), and nonorganic açaí powder (ADSR-3) by quadrupole-time-of-flight liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (Q-TOF LC/MS) have been reported in this study.
Materials and methods: The chromatographic separation for anthocyanins was achieved using a C-18 column with a gradient of 0.1% formic acid in water and 0.1% formic acid in methanol and acetonitrile (50:50, v/v). MS and MS/MS experiments were carried out on an electrospray ionization-Q-TOF LC/MS.
Results: Except for ASDR-2, all the açaí samples were found to have cyanidin 3-glucoside (1), cyanidin 3-sambubioside (2), cyanidin 3-rutinoside (3), and peonidin 3-rutinoside (4). ASDR-2 contained anthocyanins 1 and 3. Among the açaí samples quantified, ADSR-3 showed higher concentration of anthocyanins compared to other raw materials and capsules tested in this study.
Discussion and conclusion: The anthocyanins 1-4 present in ADSR-3 were 27.13 ± 0.37, 1.76 ± 0.04, 31.07 ± 0.49, and 3.46 ± 0.08 mg/100 g dry wt, respectively. The LOQ values for anthocyanins 1-4 were in the range of 2.44-9.76 ng/mL. Accuracy of the method was assessed by performing a recovery experiments. The intraday and interday variations (RSDs) were <10%. This is the first report on quantitation of anthocyanins in açaí dietary supplement raw materials and capsules.