Veronika Supalkova,a,b Helena Stavelikova,c Sona Krizkova,b Vojtech Adam,b Ales Horna,d Ladislav Havel,a Pavel Ryant,e Petr Babula,f Rene Kizekb,*
a
Department of Plant Biology, b Department of Chemistry and
Biochemistry, and e Department of Plant Nutrition, Mendel University
of Agriculture and Forestry, Zemedelska 1, CZ-613 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
Tel.: +420(5)45133350,
Fax.: +420(5)45212044,
E-mail: kizek@sci.muni.cz
c Department of Gene Bank in Olomouc, Research Institute of Crop
Production, Slechtitelu 11,CZ-783 71 Olomouc-Holice, Czech Republic
d Department of Food Engineering and Chemistry, Faculty of Technology,
Tomas Bata University, T.G. Masaryka 275, CZ-762 72 Zlin, Czech Republic
f Department of Natural Products, University of Veterinary and
Pharmaceutical Sciences,Palackeho 1-3, CZ-612 42 Brno, Czech Republic
Paper based on a presentation at the 12th
International Symposium on Separation Sciences, Lipica, Slovenia,
September
27–29, 2006.
Abstract
The burning taste of pepper is induced
by six chemically related compounds derived from phenylalkylamide alkaloid (capsaicinoids)
group. Capsaicin and its derivative dihydrocapsaicin have the strongest burning
effects from them. The aim of this work was to determine capsaicin content in
different fruit parts (ovary, lower flesh, upper flesh and seeds). For these
purposes, we optimized high performance liquid chromatography with
electrochemical detection. The most suitable conditions for capsaicin
determination were as follows: working electrode potential of 750 mV, mobile
phase of acetate buffer (pH 4) and methanol in ratio 40:60 (ν/ν, %). At these
conditions we were able to detect picomoles of capsaicin per injection. Finally,
we utilized this technique to determine capsaicin in various cultivars of
peppers. The highest content of capsaicin (227 mg per 100 g of fresh weight) was
found in ´Takanotsume’ cultivar.
Keywords: capsaicin, cyclic voltammetry, adsorptive transfer stripping technique, pepper