Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 25 No 6 (2021): 1032 - 1041

 

 

 

 

IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF LYCOPENE AND β-CAROTENE IN WATERMELON JUICE USING HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

 

(Pengenalan dan Pengkuantitian Likopena dan Β-Karotena di dalam Jus Tembikai Menggunakan Kromatografi Cecair Berprestasi Tinggi)

 

Nur Shafinaz Mohamad Salin¹, Fatimah Salim^2,3, Hairil Rashmizal Abdul Razak⁴, Wan Mazlina Md Saad^1*

 

¹Centre of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Health Sciences

²Atta-ur-Rahman Institute for Natural Product Discovery (AuRIns)

Universiti Teknologi MARA Selangor Branch, Puncak Alam Campus, 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

³Centre of Foundation Studies,

Universiti Teknologi MARA Selangor Branch, Dengkil Campus, 43800 Dengkil, Selangor, Malaysia.

⁴Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences,

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

 

*Corresponding author:  wanmaz755@uitm.edu.my

 

 

Received:  18 October 2021; Accepted: 21 November 2021; Published:  27 December 2021

 

 

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is a nutritional fruit with appealing flesh colour. The flesh colour is reflected by the presence of carotenoid compounds, lycopene and β-carotene. Lycopene is responsible for the deep red fruit colour while β-carotene provides the orange-yellow pigment. In addition, these carotenoid components can scavenge free radicals and protect one from harmful diseases. In this study, isocratic mode high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed to separate and quantify lycopene and β-carotene in watermelon juice. Twenty microliter sample injection was passed through C-18 column maintained at 45 °C coupled with diode array detector (DAD) at 470 nm. Mobile phase of acetonitrile and water (95:5, v/v) were at the flow rate of 1 mL/min. Excellent chromatographic separation of lycopene and β-carotene were achieved at elution time of 4.568 and 6.831 min, respectively. The amount of quantified lycopene (1662 µg/mL) and β-carotene (180 µg/mL) indicated that lycopene is the major carotenoid present in watermelon juice. This study described the ability of isocratic mode HPLC to separate and quantify carotenoid in watermelon juice. The analytical method had been validated, with the results showing precision, accuracy, and linearity.

 

Keywords:  watermelon, carotenoid, lycopene, β-carotene, high-performance liquid chromatography

 

Abstrak

Tembikai (Citrullus lanatus) ialah buah bernutrisi yang mempunyai warna isi yang menarik. Warna isi buah tembikai ini dicerminkan oleh kandungan sebatian karotenoid; likopena dan β-karotena. Sebatian karotenoid ini bertanggungjawab sebagai pigment warna pada buah. Tambahan pula, komponen karotenoid ini dapat menghalang serangan radikal bebas serta melindung kita daripada pelbagai jenis penyakit berbahaya. Dalam kajian ini, kaedah isokratik kromatografi cecair berprestasi tinggi (KCPT) dilakukan untuk memisahkan dan mengkuantitikan kandungan likopena dan β-karotena di dalam jus tembikai. Muatan sampel 20 µL dilalukan kedalam turus C-18 pada suhu dikekalkan 45 °C ditambah dengan pengesan susan diod (PSD) pada 470 nm. Gabungan pelarut asetonitril dan air (95:5, v/v) dengan kadar aliran 1 mL/min telah digunakan. Pemisahan kromatografi likopena dan β-karotena yang sangat baik telah dicapai pada masa elusi 4.568 dan 6.831 minit. Jumlah pengkuantitian likopena ialah 1662 µg/mL dan β-karotena 180 µg/mL, menunjukkan bahawa likopena ialah karotenoid utama diikuti dengan β-karotena di dalam jus tembikai. Dapatan kajian ini menerangkan kemampuan KCPT mod isokratik untuk mengenalpasti dan mengkuantitikan profil karotenoid di dalam jus tembikai. Kaedah analitikal yang digunakan bagi kajian ini telah divalidasi dan dapatan kajian menunjukkan kejituan, ketepatan dan kelinearan.

 

Kata kunci:  tembikai, karotenoid, likopene, β-karoten, kromatografi cecair berprestasi tinggi

 

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