Issue 63, 2018, Issue in Progress

Molecular species fingerprinting and quantitative analysis of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) for quality control by MALDI mass spectrometry

Abstract

Herein we describe a rapid, simple, and reliable method for the quantitative analysis and molecular species fingerprinting of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) by direct MS and MS/MS analysis. Experimentally, powdered saffron was subjected to a brief treatment with a 0.3% TFA water/acetonitrile solution, and the resulting mixture was directly placed on the MALDI plate for analysis. This approach allowed the detection of the commonly observed crocins C-1–C-6 and flavonols, together with the identification of the unknown highly glycosylated crocins C-7, C-8 and C-9, and carotenoid-derived metabolites. The strategy endorsed the simultaneous detection and characterization of saffron and adulterant markers using crude extracts of the adulterant itself and synthetic sets of adulterated authentic saffron samples. The implementation of the strategy was to measure the amount of an unknown adulterant from the crude extract using curcumin as a non-isotopic isobaric internal standard. The relationship between the saffron and curcumin molar ratios were established with a correlation coefficient of 0.9942. The ANOVA regression model was significant, F(1, 72) = 13 595.82, p < 0.001, y = (0.0116 ± 0.0001)x + (−0.1214 ± 0.0086). No matrix effects were observed and good results were obtained with respect to instrumental repeatability (*RSD% < 2%) and LOD (1.1%). The analysis of commercial samples of saffron using the proposed approach showed the suitability of the method for routine analysis (minimal sample preparation and very short measuring time per sample).

Graphical abstract: Molecular species fingerprinting and quantitative analysis of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) for quality control by MALDI mass spectrometry

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Sep 2018
Accepted
17 Oct 2018
First published
23 Oct 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2018,8, 36104-36113

Molecular species fingerprinting and quantitative analysis of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) for quality control by MALDI mass spectrometry

D. Aiello, C. Siciliano, F. Mazzotti, L. Di Donna, C. M. Athanassopoulos and A. Napoli, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 36104 DOI: 10.1039/C8RA07484D

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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