Determination of quercetins in onion (Allium cepa) using infrared spectroscopy

The rapid quantification of flavonoid compounds in onions by attenuated total reflectance (ATR) Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis was evaluated as a possible alternative to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Quercetin content in onion varieties (yellow, red, and sweet) was quantified using ATR FT-IR (4000 to 400 cm⁻¹) spectroscopy and HPLC methods. Quercetin-3,4'-O-diglucoside (3,4'-Qdg) and quercetin-4'-O-glucoside (4'-Qmg) comprised >80% of the total flavonol content detected in the studied varieties. The quercetin compounds (3,4'-Qdg and 4'-Qmg) and total flavonol conjugates were quantified by HPLC, and results correlated closely with ATR-IR values (R > 0.95). Cross-validated (leave-one-out) partial least-squares regression (PLSR) models successfully predicted concentrations of these quercetins. The standard errors of cross-validation (SECV) of 3,4'-Qdg and 4'-Qmg, total quercetin, and total flavonol contents of onions were 20.43, 21.18, and 21.02 mg/kg fresh weight, respectively. In addition, supervised and unsupervised segregation analyses (principal component analysis, discriminant function analysis, and soft independent modeling of class analogue) were performed to classify onion varieties on the basis of unique infrared spectral features. There was a high degree of segregation (interclass distances > 3.0) for the different types of onion. This study indicated that the IR technique could predict 3,4'-Qdg, 4'-Qmg, total quercetin, and total flavonol contents and has advantages over the traditional HPLC method in providing a valid, efficient, and cost-effective method requiring less sample preparation for the quantification of quercetins in onion.