HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS for a comprehensive characterization of bioactive phenolic compounds in cucumber whole fruit extract

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L) belongs to Cucurbitaceae family and it is widely cultivated and consumed in many varieties for its edible fruit (Cucumber) either in fresh or processed (pickled) forms. It is an important part of the traditional Mediterranean diet since antiquity due to its nutritional and medicinal properties. C sativus is a rich source of polyphenols and it is used not only as food, but also in folk medicine, health-care and cosmetology. Therefore, due to the important role that cucumber plays in those fields, we have developed a simple and rapid method to characterize the polyphenolic compounds in an extract of Cucumis sativus L using Reversed-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled to Electrospray Ionization Quadropole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (RP-HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS). The accuracy of mass data generated by Q-TOF-MS together with the fragmentation pattern of the full scan run of MS/MS analysis have been a useful tool to tentatively characterize 73 phenolic compounds in the extract of the studied matrix. Most of these compounds are being reported here for the first time in Cucumber, highlighting the importance of Cucurbitaceae family as a source of natural bioactive antioxidants. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.