Rapid screening of antioxidant from natural products by AAPH-Incubating HPLC-DAD-HR MS/MS method: A case study of Gardenia jasminoides fruit

A new AAPH-Incubating HPLC-DAD-HR MS/MS method was developed for the rapid and high-throughput screening of antioxidants directly in natural products and applied to Gardenia jasminoides fruit. This method was assumed that the peak areas of compounds with potential antioxidant activity in HPLC chromatograms would be significantly reduced or disappeared after incubating with the AAPH which can release ROO center dot at physiological conditions (37 degrees C, pH 7.4). Additionally, the activity of antioxidants can be evaluated by comparing the peak reduction rates and the screened components can be further identified by HRMS/MS. Then, 17 potential natural antioxidants from the crude extract of GJF was screened. Among them, three major com-ponents including crocin I, crocin II and crocetin showed excellent ROO center dot scavenging activity, which were further validated by the ORAC assay. In conclusion, our study provided a simple and effective strategy to rapidly screen antioxidants in natural products.

Automated summary

A new method for rapidly screening antioxidants in natural products was developed and applied to Gardenia jasminoides fruit. The activity of antioxidants was evaluated by comparing the peak reduction rates in HPLC chromatograms, and the screened components were further identified by HRMS/MS. The study identified 17 potential natural antioxidants in GJF.