Analysis of eight capsaicinoids in peppers and pepper-containing foods by high-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Diverse procedures have been reported for the isolation and analysis of secondary metabolites called capsaicinoids, pungent compounds in the fruit of the Capsicum (Solanaceae) plant. To further improve the usefulness of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), studies were carried out on the analysis of extracts containing up to eight of the following capsaicinoids: capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, homocapsaicin-I, homocapsaicin-II, homodihydrocapsaicin-I, homodihydrocapsaicin-II, nonivamide, and nordihydrocapsaicin. HPLC was optimized by defining effects on retention times of (a) the composition of the mobile phase (acetonitrile/0.