Characterization and Quantitation of Phenolic Compounds in New Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) Varieties

Abstract

Thirty-seven apricot varieties, including four new releases (Rojo Pasión, Murciana, Selene, and Dorada) obtained from different crosses between apricot varieties and three traditional Spanish cultivars (Currot, Mauricio, and Búlida), were separated according to flesh color into four groups: white, yellow, light orange, and orange (mean hue angles in flesh were 88.1, 85.0, 77.6, and 72.4, respectively). Four phenolic compound groups, procyanidins, hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, flavonols, and anthocyanins, were identified by HPLC-MS/MS and individually quantified using HPLC-DAD. Chlorogenic and neochlorogenic acids, procyanidins B1, B2, and B4, and some procyanidin trimers, quercetin 3-rutinoside, kaempferol 3-rhamnosyl-hexoside and quercetin 3-acetyl-hexoside, cyanidin 3-rutinoside, and 3-glucoside, were detected and quantified in the skin and flesh of the different cultivars. The total phenolics content, quantified as the addition of the individual compounds quantified by HPLC, ranged between 32.6 and 160.0 mg 100 g-1 of edible tissue. No correlation between the flesh color and the phenolic content of the different cultivars was observed.