Comprehensive study of the phenolic composition of the edible parts of jambolan fruit (Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels)

Abstract

Jambolan fruit has been used in traditional Indian medicine and has recently attracted interest as a functional food. The comprehensive study by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS has revealed the occurrence of around 74 individual phenolic compounds in the edible parts of jambolan, including 9 anthocyanins (mainly based on delphinidin, petunidin and malvidin), 9 flavonols (myricetin, laricitrin and syringetin glycosides), 19 flavanonols (dihexosides of dihydromyricetin and its methylated derivatives), 8 flavan-3-ol monomers (mainly gallocatechin), 13 gallotanins and 13 ellagitanins, together with some proanthocyanidins (highly galloylated prodelphinidins) and free gallic and ellagic acids. No hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives were detected. The skin of the jambolan fruit accumulated great amounts of phenolic compounds, almost all of the non-tannin phenolics. In contrast, condensed tannins (proanthocyanidins) and hydrolyzable tannins (gallotannins and ellagitannins) were present in both edible parts, accounting for greater amounts in the skin. Overall, the main phenolics of jambolan were anthocyanins and hydrolyzable tannins (similar amounts of gallotannins and ellagitanins), followed by flavanonols, flavonols and flavan-3-ols.

Insights into the phenolic compounds present in jambolan (Syzygium cumini) along with their health‐promoting effects

“…Flavonols (myricetin, myricetin pentoside, myricetin rhamnoside, myricetin glucoside and myricetin acetylrhamnoside) and flavanonols (dihydromyricetin, dihydromyricetin diglucoside, dihydroquercetin, dihydroquercetin diglucoside, dimethyl‐dihydromyricetin diglucoside and methyl‐dihydromyricetin diglucoside) were detected in jambolan fruit (pulp and peel) extract (Faria et al ., ). In jambolan fruit pulp, flavanols myricetin 3‐ O ‐glucoside, syringetin 3‐ O ‐galactoside, myricetin 3‐ O ‐pentose, myricetin 3‐ O ‐rhamnose, syringetin 3‐ O ‐glucoside, myricetin 3‐ O ‐glucuronide, laricitrin 3‐ O ‐glucoside, laricitrin 3‐ O ‐galactoside and myricetin 3‐ O ‐galactoside were the identified and quantified as 30.31, 17.74, 11.55, 10.64, 8.92, 7.53, 5.82, 5.00 and 2.50 mg kg −1 fresh weight (FW), respectively (Tavares et al ., ). On the other hand, the flavanols observed in jambolan fruit peel were myricetin 3‐ O ‐glucoside, myricetin 3‐ O ‐rhamnose, myricetin 3‐ O ‐glucuronide, laricitrin 3‐ O ‐glucoside, myricetin 3‐ O ‐pentose, syringetin 3‐ O ‐glucoside, syringetin 3‐ O ‐galactoside, myricetin 3‐ O ‐galactoside and laricitrin 3‐ O ‐galactoside and their content was 64.4, 11.92, 8.0, 5.04, 3.21, 2.13, 1.91, 1.76 and 1.62 mg kg −1 FW, respectively (Tavares et al ., ).…”

“…Three flavanonols (dihydromyricetin diglucoside, methyl‐dihydromyricetin diglucoside and dimethyl‐dihydromyricetin diglucoside) and three flavonols (myricetin 3‐ O ‐pentoside, myricetin 3‐ O ‐hexoside and myricetin 3‐ O ‐rhamnoside) were detected in a recent report on freeze‐dried jambolan fruit extract (Lestario et al ., ). Monomeric flavan‐3‐ols detected in jambolan pulp were gallocatechin, catechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epigallocatechin 3‐ O ‐gallate, gallocatechin 3‐ O ‐gallate, epicatechin 3‐ O ‐gallate and catechin 3‐ O ‐gallate with contents of 85.82, 5.23, 3.47, 2.18, 2.15, 0.97, 0.11 & 0.08 mg kg −1 FW, respectively (Tavares et al ., ). Seraglio et al .…”

“…In addition to free ellagic acid, galloyl‐diHHDP‐glucose, digalloyl‐HHDP‐glucose and vescalagin were identified as isomers in the ellagitannins of jambolan fruit extracts (Lestario et al ., ). The amounts of gallotannins and ellagitannins were much higher than in jambolan fruit peel compared to the pulp (Tavares et al ., ). Total gallotannin and ellagitannin content was reported to be 93.7 and 2.9 mg/100 g DW, respectively in fully ripened black fruit (Lestario et al ., ).…”

“…TFC reported in extract prepared from freeze‐dried jambolan fruit pulp was 573 mg QE/100 g (Singh et al ., ). The total flavanols in jambolan peel and pulp were 701.9 and 43.1 mg myricetin 3‐ O ‐glucoside equivalents/100 g FW and flavanonols were 1676.8 and 63.7 mg naringin equivalents/100 g FW, respectively (Tavares et al ., ).…”

“…Jambolan (Syzygium cumini Skeels.) (also known as jamun, jambul, black plum or Indian blackberry) is a large evergreen tree of tropical as well as subtropical regions, belonging to Myrtaceae family rich in phenolic compounds (Tavares et al, 2016). It is indigenous to India as well as major parts of South-East Asia and was brought to Southern Africa for its edible fruits (Baliga et al, 2011;Oliveira et al, 2016).…”