Application of Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography for Carotenoid Analysis in Red Mamey (Pouteria sapote) Fruit

One-dimensional liquid chromatography is widely applied to the analytical separation of various phytochemicals, including carotenoids; however, sometimes it does not provide sufficient resolution power for the analyte separation in very complex real-world samples. Multidimensional chromatography is a technique that may provide the required analytical separation power to tackle such a task. The aim of this work was to apply comprehensive multidimensional two-dimensional liquid chromatography, coupled to photodiode array and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry detection, to the free carotenoid separation in red mamey (Pouteria sapote) fruit for the first time, using ultra high pressure liquid chromatography conditions in the second dimension separation. A comparison between one- and two-dimensional separation of the same matrix is shown, and a total of 23 different carotenoids belonging to 17 different carotenoid chemical classes were separated in the double orthogonal separation and identification system; moreover, a hypothesis for the possible detection of a new carotenoid is also reported for the first time.