High-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and evaporative light-scattering detector to compare phenolic profiles of muscadine grapes

Evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) is considered as a universal detector able to detect almost any compound. This study successfully established a HPLC-ELSD method for the simultaneous determination of phenolic acids, flavonoids and anthocyanins in muscadine grape. Twenty-four phenolics, including 5 anthocyanins, were identified by HPLC–UV-MS, ten of them were selected to calibrate the ELSD. Results from the ELSD quantification suggested that gallic acid, proanthocyanidins, and ellagic acid were the main phenolics in muscadines. In addition, antioxidant tests suggested that the extracts of muscadine grapes possessed strong antioxidant activities. All extracts had a high total phenolic content (TPC). High total anthocyanins contents (TAC) were found in Noble muscadine, and high proanthocyanidins content (TPA) in the seed portion.

► HPLC-ELSD method was successfully established for a simultaneous determination of phenolic acids, flavonoids and anthocyanins.
► Twenty-four phenolics including 5 anthocyanins in the muscadine grapes were identified by the HPLC–UV-MS.
► Ten standards were selected to calibrate the ELSD detection with desirable linearities and low LODs and LOQs.
► Muscadine extracts exhibited strong antioxidant activity and high contents of phenolics and anthocyanins.