High-resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometry for the analysis of carotenoids in tomato fruit: validation and comparative evaluation towards UV-VIS and tandem mass spectrometry.

In this study, a generic extraction protocol and full-scan high-resolution Orbitrap-mass spectrometry (MS) detection method were developed, enabling the metabolomic screening for carotenoids in tomato fruit tissue. To this end, the carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin, α-carotene, β-carotene, and lycopene (representing both xanthofylls and carotenes) were considered. The extraction procedure was optimized by means of a D-optimal design and consisted of a liquid-liquid extraction with methanol/tert-butyl methyl ether (1:1, v/v). The considered compounds were detected by a single-stage Exactive(TM) mass spectrometer, operating at a mass resolution of 100,000 full width at half maximum. The validation study demonstrated excellent performance in terms of linearity (R (2) > 0.99), repeatability (CV ≤ 10.6 %), within-laboratory reproducibility (CV ≤ 12.2 %), and mean corrected recovery (ranging from 85 to 106 %). Additionally, a comparative evaluation towards well-established detection techniques, i.e., tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS) photodiode array, indicated superior performance of high-resolution Orbitrap-MS with regard to specificity/selectivity and sensitivity (with limits of detection ranging from 1.0 to 3.8 pg μL(-1)). As a result, it may be concluded that high-resolution Orbitrap-MS is a suited alternative for UV-VIS or MS/MS in analyzing carotenoids and may offer significant value in carotenoid research because of the metabolomic screening possibilities.