Analysis of Chlorophylls/Chlorophyllins in Food Products Using HPLC and HPLC-MS Methods

Area of Science:

• Food Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Sensory Science

Background:

• Color is a critical sensory attribute influencing consumer choice in food and beverages.
• Natural green colorants, such as chlorophylls and chlorophyllins, are preferred for their safety and appeal, despite synthetic alternatives being cheaper and more stable.
• Food processing and storage can lead to the degradation of natural colorants into various fragments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the degradation products of chlorophylls and chlorophyllins under various conditions.
• To discuss the separation and identification of these degradants using hyphenated techniques.
• To highlight challenges in analyzing natural colorants and propose future analytical strategies.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on chlorophyll and chlorophyllin degradation.
• Analysis of hyphenated techniques like High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), LC-MS/HRMS, and LC/MS-MS for characterization.
• Exploration of limitations in current analytical methods for detecting all degradants.

Main Results:

• Various degradants of chlorophylls and chlorophyllins are formed during food processing and storage.
• Current hyphenated techniques can identify many, but not all, degradation products.
• Some molecular structures within the tetrapyrrole skeleton are insensitive to existing characterization tools.

Conclusions:

• Accurate characterization of all chlorophyll and chlorophyllin degradants is essential for risk assessment and regulatory compliance.
• A non-targeted analysis approach combining HPLC and High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HR-MS) with advanced software and databases is proposed.
• This integrated method could effectively analyze diverse chlorophyll and chlorophyllin-based colorants and their fragments in food products.