Analysis of anthocyanins and flavonols in petals of 10 Rhododendron species from the Sygera Mountains in Southeast Tibet

• Flower pigments of Tibetan Rhododendron were analyzed using HPLC-ESI-MS2.
• The compositions of anthocyanins and flavonols were different among the 10 species.
• The results indicate the existence of copigmentation effects in the 10 species.

Flower color is one of the major ornamental characteristics of the genus Rhododendron, but few studies on flower color in alpine Rhododendron have been reported. In our study, the flower colors and the pigment constituents of petals from 10 Rhododendron species sampled in the Sygera Mountains of Southeast Tibet were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection and mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS2). The color analysis showed that the 10 Rhododendron species could be divided into five color groupings: yellow, red, red-purple, purple-violet, and purple. A total of 5 anthocyanin compounds and 23 flavonol compounds were tentatively identified and quantified. There were obvious differences in the composition of anthocyanin and flavonol among the petals of the 10 Rhododendron species. The color parameter L* decreased as the TA (total anthocyanin) content increased in the red-purple group. However, there was no obvious correlation between the L* value and the TA content in the other sampled Rhododendron species. In this study, the TA values of most of the Rhododendron species were quite low, but the TF (total flavonol) content was high. These results indicate the existence of copigmentation effects in these 10 Rhododendron species.