Fast Separation of Capsaicinoids from Peppers by Reversed Phase Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography: Comparation with Traditional High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Methods

Abstract

A new chromatographic method for the separation of major capsaicinoids in peppers has been developed. Nordihydrocapsaicin, capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, homocapsaicin, and homodihydrocapsaicin have been separated by reversed-phase ultra-performance liquid chromatography. A gradient method has been developed using two solvents: 0.1% acetic acid in water and 0.1% acetic acid in methanol. The developed method allows the full separation of capsaicinoids in less than 3 min, with high reproducibility (relative standard deviation < 4.3%) and repeatability (relative standard deviation < 3.6%). Robustness regarding the total amount of methanol in the sample was determined. Comparison with previous reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography methods using both monolithic and conventional columns was also studied. Finally, the method was applied in the determination of major capsaicinoids in 16 hot pepper samples produced in Spain.

Keywords:

• Capsaicinoids
• Peppers
• Fast separations
• UHPLC
• HPLC

ORCID

Gerardo Barbero

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7302-6605

Marta Ferreiro-González

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0870-403X

Miguel Palma

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8509-4226

Carmelo Barroso

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2284-2244

Additional information

Funding

This work forms part of the RTA2011-00118 project funded by the National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA) and co-financed by the European Fund for Regional Development (FEDER).