1. Determination of saffron quality by high-performance liquid chromatography.
- Author
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Valle García-Rodríguez M, Serrano-Díaz J, Tarantilis PA, López-Córcoles H, Carmona M, and Alonso GL
- Subjects
- Calibration, Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid, Crocus growth & development, Cyclohexenes analysis, Cyclohexenes chemistry, Flowers growth & development, Glucosides analysis, Glucosides chemistry, Limit of Detection, Mediterranean Region, Molecular Structure, Plant Extracts chemistry, Reproducibility of Results, Solubility, Spain, Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet, Stereoisomerism, Terpenes analysis, Terpenes chemistry, Crocus chemistry, Flowers chemistry, Food Inspection methods, Food Quality, Spices analysis
- Abstract
The aim of this work was to propose a high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) method for determining the three main compounds responsible for determining the quality of saffron (crocetin esters, picrocrocin, and safranal) by preparing an aqueous extract according to the ISO 3632 standard to solve the difficulty that this standard has for aroma and taste determination by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Toward this aim, laboratory-isolated picrocrocin, a safranal standard with a purity of ≥ 88%, trans-crocetin di(β-D-gentiobiosyl) ester (trans-4-GG) and trans-crocetin (β-D-glucosyl)-(β-D-gentiobiosyl) ester (trans-3-Gg) standards, both with a purity of ≥ 99%, and 50 different saffron spice samples from Italy, Iran, Greece, and Spain were used in the intralaboratory validation of the HPLC method. The analytical method proposed was adequate in terms of linearity, selectivity, sensitivity, and accuracy for determining the three foremost parameters that define the quality of saffron using only a saffron solution prepared according to the ISO 3632 standard.
- Published
- 2014
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