Analyses of Coloring Constituents in Commercial Paprika Color by HPLC

Twenty-four paprika colors, which are commercially available as food colorants in Japan, were analyzed by reversed-phase HPLC with the gradient solvent system described in the legend to Fig. 1. The analyzed paprika colors were classified into two groups on the basis of their HPLC profiles. One group consisted of colors originating from Spain (15 samples) and three other countries (3 samples). The highest peak in any chromatogram of this group was c1 or b5 (β-carotene) and the number of peaks which showed 40% height or more relative to the highest peak was about 5. The other group consisted of colors originating from China (5 samples). The major peaks of this group were c1, c3, c5 and b5 and the number of peaks which showed 40% height or more was about 10.The compounds corresponding to the peaks b2, c0, c1 and c3 were isolated by preparative TLC and HPLC, and characterized by LC/MS and NMR. The spectroscopic data revealed that b2, c0, c1 and c3 were 3′-O-myristoylcapsanthin, dilauroylcapsanthin, lauroylmyristoylcapsanthin and dimyristoylcapsanthin, respectively.