The Role of LC-MS and LC-HRMS in the Characterization and Determination of Polyphenols and Phenolic Acids in Food

Abstract

Polyphenols and phenolics acids are widespread secondary metabolites found in foods derived from plants which have caught the attention of consumers over the last years due to the recognition of their antioxidant properties, their great abundance in our diet, and the probable role that these compounds are playing in the prevention of various diseases and modulating the activity of a wide range of enzymes and cell receptors. Not only cultivar but also growing area, cultivation techniques, soil management and degree of maturation among others parameters determine the variety of polyphenols and their concentration levels in fruit- and vegetable-based foods, so polyphenols can be used as sample chemical descriptors to develop food authentication methods and to prevent food frauds. Furthermore, polyphenols contribute to sensorial properties and color attributes of natural food products. The complexity of food matrices, the huge variety of chemical compounds and the great diversity of polyphenols that can be present in samples at low concentration levels, which also could differ in polarity and size, turned liquid chromatography into the most widely used separation technique and mass spectrometry as one of the most well balanced and accurate method for the determination of polyphenols in food matrices. Although conventional liquid chromatography and low-resolution mass spectrometry are still widely used for fast and competitive applications, using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry allow to obtain accurate mass measurements for the characterization, determination and identification of polyphenols in food products. The fast forward developing of new methods and techniques force researchers to look at the trends in literature to choose the better conditions to achieve their goals. Exploring the role of LC-MS and LC-HRMS in the determination of phenolic compounds in food and the trends in extraction methods, chromatographic and mass spectrometric parameters and data processing are the main purposes of this work.