Biospectroscopy, biospectrometry and imaging of Ilex paraguariensis. Basis for non-destructive quality evaluation using artificial vision

PETROSELLI GABRIELA; PARAPUGNA TAMARA; ERRA BALSELLS ROSA; LAGORIO GABRIELA; PETROSELLI GABRIELA; PARAPUGNA TAMARA; LAGORIO GABRIELA; ERRA BALSELLS ROSA

Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY

Lugar: CAMBRIDGE; Año: 2016 vol. 15 p. 879 - 888

1474-905X

Yerba mate (YM) is massively produced and consumed as an infusion in South America and spreading all over the world. This product is obtained from dried leaves of Ilex paraguariensis Saint Hilaire, mixed with fragments of dried branches. For its commercialization YM must have a minimum percentage of leaves according to a standard classification. Until now, composition quantification is mechanically performed, thus development of new methods are still pending. In this work a quantification method using solid-phase molecular fluorescence, alternately diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and image technique using a scanner are proposed. Strong differences between leaves and sticks optics were observed and in all cases linear correlations between processed signals and composition were found. Interesting differences in chemical composition for YM leaves and sticks were additionally obtained in this work by means of total phenol content quantification, ultraviolet matrix assisted laser-desorption ionization mass spectrometry and ultraviolet laser-desorption ionization mass spectrometry.