Betalains and phenolic compounds of leaves and stems of Alternanthera brasiliana and Alternanthera tenella

DELADINO, L.; ALVAREZ, I.; DE ANCOS, B.; SÁNCHEZ-MORENO, C.; MOLINA-GARCÍA, A.D.; SCHNEIDER TEIXEIRA, A.

FOOD RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2017

0963-9969

Betacyanins and phenolic compounds from acetonitrile:acidified water extracts ofAlternanthera brasiliana and Alternanthera tenella were characterized and quantifiedusing a high-performance liquid chromatography system coupled with diode array andelectrospray mass spectrometry detection. Four betacyanins (amaranthine,isoamaranthine, betanin and isobetanin) were tentatively identified and quantified.Twenty eight phenolic compounds of four different families (hydroxybenzoic andhydroxycinnamic acids, flavones and flavonols) were separated and characterized on thebasis of their accurate MS and MS/MS information out of which ten compounds wereconfirmed by authentic standards. These plant species could be considered as anespecially rich source of natural bioactive compounds and potential food colorants. A.brasiliana showed the highest betacyanin and polyphenols content (89 µg/g and 35243µg/g, respectively). Among polyphenols, flavonols were the more abundant(kaempferol-glucoside, kaempferol-rutinoside and kaempferol-rhamnosyl-rhamnosylglycoside).Meanwhile, A. tenella showed a different polyphenols profile with flavonesas major compounds (glucopyranosil-vitexin and vitexin). As a novelty, pentosylvitexinand pentosyl-isovitexin were detected for the first time in Alternanthera plants.Both A. brasiliana and A. tenella leaves showed high total polyphenol content and invitro antioxidant activity (FRAP). These results provide an analytical base concerningthe phenolic and betalains composition and the antioxidant properties of two membersof the promising Alternanthera gender, for subsequent applications, such as functionalfood ingredients.