Separation and quantitation of colour pigments of chili powder ( Capsicum frutescens) by high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detection

• Published in: Journal of Chromatography A Vol. 896; no. 1; pp. 69 - 73
• Main Authors: Cserháti, Tibor, Forgács, Esther, Morais, Maria Helena, Mota, Teresa, Ramos, Ana
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 27.10.2000; Elsevier
• Subjects: Aroma and flavouring agent industries; Biological and medical sciences; Capsicum - chemistry; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Pigments; Pigments, Biological - analysis; Pigments, Biological - isolation & purification; Plants, Medicinal; Reproducibility of Results; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; Pigments; Food analysis; Capsicum frutescens; Elution; Gradient; Chemical analysis; HPLC chromatography; Organic pigment; Reversed phase chromatography; Analysis method; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Flavoring crop; Spermatophyta; Qualitative analysis; Solanaceae; Chilli pepper; Quantitative analysis; Ultraviolet visible spectrometry
• ISSN: 0021-9673
• DOI: 10.1016/S0021-9673(00)00580-X

The performance of reversed-phase thin-layer (RP-TLC) and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) was compared for the separation and determination of the colour pigments of chili ( Capsicum frutescens) powder using a wide variety of eluent systems. No separation of pigments was achieved in RP-TLC, however, it was established that tetrahydrofuran shows an unusually high solvent strength. RP-HPLC using water–methanol–acetonitrile gradient elution separated the chili pigments in many fractions. Diode array detection (DAD) indicated that yellow pigments are eluted earlier than the red ones and chili powder contains more yellow pigments than common paprika powders. It was established that the very different absorption spectra of pigments make the use of DAD necessary.