Identification of Anthocyanins and Flavonols in Extract of Blueberry by Using HPLC-ESI-MS/MS

HPLC-ESI-MS/MS was applied to rapid analysis of flavonoids in the extract of blueberry. An- thocyanins and flavonols were identified as the primary components. The different structures lead to the dif- ferences in their UV-Vis absorptions, ionizations and fragmentations. Although both shown absorption maximum at 270 nm, anthocyanins and flavonols possessed characteristic absorption at 530 and 372 nm, re- spectively. Anthocyanins and flavonols could be distinguished since anion and radical anion were generated from flavonols in the negative ion ESI-MS, while anthocyanins gave no obvious signal under the same con- ditions. Different characteristic product ions in MS/MS diagram further confirmed the distinctions in struc- ture between anthocyanins and flavonols. This study is helpful for the quality analysis and control of the ex- tract of blueberry.