Identification and quantitative determination of the polar constituents in Helichrysum italicum flowers and derived food supplements

• Chemical characterization of the methanol extract of H. italicum flowers guided by LC–ESI(IT)MS.
• Quantitative analysis of H. italicum major compounds by LC–ESI(QqQ)MSMS.
• Identification of a novel drimane sesquiterpene.
• Quali-quantitative determination of the polar constituents in H. italicum food supplements.

Helichrysum italicum is widely used in traditional medicine, in cosmetic, in food and pharmaceutical field. In spite of this, very little is known about the chemical composition of its polar extracts. Therefore this study was addressed to the determination of the metabolite profile of the methanol extract of H. italicum flowers, by using LC–ESI(IT)MSMS. This approach oriented the isolation of 14 compounds, whose structures were unambiguously elucidated by NMR as belonging to flavonoid, phenylpropanoid and acylbenzofuran classes. In addition, one novel drimane sesquiterpene was identified.The quantitative determination of the main compounds occurring in the methanol extract of H. italicum flowers was carried out and their content was compared with that of three selected commercial food supplements based on H. italicum, by using LC–ESI(QqQ)MS.In conclusion the wide occurrence, in high amounts, of quinic acid derivatives in all the analyzed samples was highlighted, showing these compounds as chemical markers of the species for standardization procedures.

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