Identification of monomenthyl succinate in natural mint extracts by LC-ESI-MS-MS and GC-MS

Fresh and dried mint leaves Mentha piperita (peppermint) and Mentha spicata (spearmint) were extracted in two different ways and the extracts investigated by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. All the ethanolic extracts prepared with Soxhlet apparatus were used in the identification of monomenthyl succinate as previously reported. The highest level was found in fresh spearmint leaves. The analysis of the extractions, prepared under mild conditions using a fluorinated solvent (HFC 134-a), confirmed the natural occurrence of monomenthyl succinate in the leaves, ruling out the hypothesis that this constituent could be an artifact of the Soxhlet extraction process. A method for identifying this compound in such a fluorinated solvent extract of mint leaf using preliminary esterification with diazomethane and then GC-MS is described.