NataliaMoratalla-LópezaAna M.SánchezbCándidaLorenzoaHoracioLópez-CórcolescGonzalo L.AlonsoaaCátedra de Química Agrícola, ETSI Agrónomos y Montes, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario, 02071, Albacete, SpainbUnidad de Hortofruticultura, Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón, CITA. Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón IA2 (CITA-Universidad de Zaragoza), Avda. Montañana 930, 50059, Zaragoza, SpaincInstituto Técnico Agronómico Provincial (ITAP), S.A. Avda. Gregorio Arcos, s/n., Albacete, 02006, Spain
Received 13 April 2020, Revised 28 July 2020, Accepted 1 August 2020, Available online 10 August 2020.
Abstract
Crocus sativus L. is a perennial plant vegetatively propagated by corms. Although this plant has been cultivated throughout history to obtain its dried stigmas known as saffron, the whole flowers are natural sources of antioxidants, which are currently of interest to the phytopharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and cosmetic industries. It is thus necessary to assess the quality control of the whole flower of Crocus sativus L. The aim of this work is to propose, develop, and validate a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Diode Array Detection (HPLC-DAD) method to determine the quality of Crocus sativus L. whole flowers through the detailed assessment of its main compounds. This analytical method was adequate in terms of the performance characteristics evaluated (linearity, selectivity, detection and quantification limits, precision, and accuracy), and it could also be applied to evaluate the corm quality of Crocus sativus L.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0889157520313181?via%3Dihub