Determination of the Content of Selected Phenolic Compounds in Eight Kinds of Spices by Using Liquid Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry

The aim of the experiment was to determine the content of selected phenolic compounds (3,4dihydroxybenzaldehyde, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, gallic acid, neochlorogenic acid, p-coumaric acid, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde , p-hydroxybenzoic acid, protocatechuic acid, salicylic acid, sinapic acid, syringic acid, vanilic acid, vanilin, cinnamic acid) in eight kinds of spices (marjoram, sweet pepper, black pepper, caraway seeds, anise, thyme, cinnamon and oregano) by using high performance liquid chromatography Agilent 1200 Series with diode array detector and a triple quadrupole mass detector 6460 Triple Quad (LC / MS). The extraction with methanol at various concentrations (60%, 80% and/or 100%) was done prior to determination of the mentioned phenolic compounds. The content of phenolic compounds was determined by using of method of HPLC-MS. The highest content of caffeic acid was determined in oregano (82.6 ± 4.0 μg/g), marjoram (93.7 ± 3.8 μg/g) and thyme (115.8 ± 3.6 μg/g). In anise and caraway seeds, the highest content was found at cryptochlorogenic acid (anise = 314.7 ± 14.0 μg/g, caraway seeds = 290.5 ± 14.0 μg/g). Ferulic acid (26.5 ± 1.3 μg/g) was the most abundant in sweet pepper. Cinnamic acid (278.0 ± 15.3 μg/g) was mostly occured in cinnamon. 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde (53.0 ± 2.6 μg/g) was determined as of the highest content in black pepper.