Comprehensive, untargeted, and qualitative RP-HPLC-ESI-QTOF/MS2 metabolite profiling of green asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)

Asparagus officinalis (green asparagus) is a well-known health-promoting vegetable crop, now widely consumed all over the world. Because health-promoting characteristics in food are increasingly demanded and included in the purchase decision by the discriminating consumer, the investigation of the metabolic profile is of great interest for its revalorization. In this study, a reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (RP-HPLC-ESI-QTOF/MS2) methodology was applied for the comprehensive profiling of polar and semi-polar metabolites from a hydromethanolic green asparagus extract. A total of 94 compounds were tentatively identified, belonging to different chemical classes such as organic acids, amino acids, peptides and derivatives, polyphenols (hydroxycinnamic acids, flavonols, lignans, and norlignans), oxylipins, and others. Among them, 74 are reported for the first time in this vegetable. This methodology demonstrated to be one of the tools of choice for the metabolite profiling of plant extracts. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.