Comprehensive chlorophyll composition in the main edible seaweeds

- It has been performed a complete description of the chlorophyll profile in the main seaweeds.
- It has been identified by first time new chlorophyll compounds in edible seaweeds.
- Five chlorophyll derivatives have been completely characterized (MS2) by first time.
- Series d chlorophyll derivatives seem to be common in seaweeds.
- New fragmentation patterns have been proposed for several chlorophyll derivatives.

Natural chlorophylls present in seaweeds have been studied regarding their biological activities and health benefit effects. However, detailed studies regarding characterization of the complete chlorophyll profile either qualitatively and quantitatively are scarce. This work deals with the comprehensive spectrometric study of the chlorophyll derivatives present in the five main coloured edible seaweeds. The novel complete MS2 characterization of five chlorophyll derivatives: chlorophyll c2, chlorophyll c1, purpurin-18 a, pheophytin d and phytyl-purpurin-18 a has allowed to obtain fragmentation patterns associated with their different structural features. New chlorophyll derivatives have been identified and quantified by first time in red, green and brown seaweeds, including some oxidative structures. Quantitative data of the chlorophyll content comes to achieve significant information for food composition databases in bioactive compounds.