Abstract:
To elucidate the nutritional profile of organic acids and vitamins in hawthorn fruits, the content of vitamins and organic acids in nine hawthorn varieties wasHawthorn fruitsand accurate and reliable detection results determined using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (ESI ion source). Correlation, principal component and cluster analyses were subsequently performed. Following sample pre-treatment and extraction of water-soluble vitamins, the samples underwent separation via ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) and were subjected to detection using electrospray tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM), known for high sensitivity, low detection limits, and accurate and reliable results. The results showed that hawthorn fruit is notably abundant in vitamin C and encompasses a diverse range of organic acids. In this study, a total of 21 organic acids were identified, with citric acid, quinic acid, malic acid, and oxalic acid emerging as the primary organic acids, constituting 80.8%, 9.5%, 7.6%, and 1.0% of the total acid content, respectively. The vitamin C content of Hawthorn fruit was notably abundant, averaging at 2394.4 μg/g. Hawthorn fruits were found to contain five types of B vitamins, with an overall modest content, where the average content of vitamin B5 was the highest, at 2.010 μg/g. After principal component analysis, 27 indicators were synthesised into 7 principal component factors. Notably, trans aconitic acid, citric acid, acetic acid, pyruvic acid, cis aconitic acid, and quinic acid exhibited significant contributions to the 1st principal component. Succinic acid, malonic acid, and 3-phenylpropionic acid contributed more to the second principal component. After cluster analysis, the nine hawthorn fruits could be classified into three groups. Class I comprised Sweet Red Hawthorn and Jin Ruyi; Class II included Big Golden Star and Big Five-Pronged Hawthorn; and Class III encompassed five varieties such as Qingyuan Mopan, Small Golden Star, and Laiwu Black Red. Upon comprehensive evaluation, Laiwu Black Red and Big Golden Star attained high composite scores of 7.0 and 5.7, respectively.