Anais do Simpósio Latino Americano de Ciências de Alimentos
Anais do 14 SLACA - Simpósio Latino Americano de Ciência de Alimentos

Jambolão (Syzygium cumini) is a poorly commercially explored fruit, but known for its high concentration of phenolic compounds and antioxidant potential. However, the extraction of these bioactive substances is usually performed with acidified methanol, which is highly toxic for ingestion, thus requiring sustainable methodologies and non-toxic solvents for use by the food industry. In this context, the objective of this work was to determine the chemical constituents of jambolão seed employing paper spray mass spectrometry (PS-MS). Fruits were collected in the municipality of Paraopeba, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Then, they were sanitized, pulped and frozen until the moment of analysis. Seeds were ground in a mill and then submitted to a solid-liquid extraction process with distilled water. In order to evaluate the chemical profile of the samples a LCQ Fleet mass spectrometer, equipped with a paper spray ionization source, running in the positive mode. In this step, the extract was applied to chromatographic paper, positioned in front of the equipment's entrance and the voltage source connected for data acquisition. Identification of the compounds was performed by comparison between the mass/charge ratios found in the literature and the instrumental signals obtained from analysis. More than 20 compounds of different chemical classes have possibly been identified, such as; amino acids: L-arginine, carbohydrates: glucose and polyphenols: catechin, delphinidin, taxifolin, petunidin, myricetin, malvinidin, cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside and glycoside of ellagic acid. It is noteworthy that polyphenols with preventive action against chronic non-transmissible diseases, with capacity to neutralize free radicals and antioxidant potential were the main chemical constituents found. Therefore, this study corresponds to the initial stage of the evaluation of the alleged technological and nutritional benefits of jambolão seeds, where PS-MS with distilled water extraction proved to be an efficient, safe and fast technique to obtain the chemical profile of the analyzed sample.