Análise metabolômica de Guaraná por CLAE-EM

Abstract

Guarana is an edible plant species, native from Brazil, and considered to be one of most important non-timbers forest products from the Brazilian Amazon with great acceptance in local and international markets, mostly due to its phytherapeutical properties. Despite of its Amazon origin, today Bahia state is its main producer. Nevertheless, the brand "from Amazon" has a great impact in trade, mainly international one. Therefore, the certification of origin of guarana, as being from the Brazilian Amazon, especially if performed by modern analytical methods, would have an important role for the Amazon state economy. This work aimed to study the micromolecular composition of guarana (metabolomics) from authentic samples of guarana seeds by LC-DAD-MS to ensure their authenticity and origin. Initially a protocol to prepare the samples was developed that included sampling, processing, and extraction of guarana seeds; along with the development of a sensitivy and reproducible HPLC method capable to resolve the multiple components of guarana extracts, by evaluating different columns and detectors in different conditions. This reversed-phase HPLC-MS method employing an ion-trap detector has been used to analyze hundreds of authentic samples from Amazonas, Bahia and Mato Grosso States, as well some commercial samples. Then all data were analyzed by chemometrics employing the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Component Analysis (HCA). This approach allowed us to identify patterns that were grouped accordingly to its geographical origin or seeds processing method. The guarana chemical components responsible for these discriminations were identified by LC-MS-qQToF as being dimers and trimers of procyanidin type A and B. These results are a significant step into a reliable quality control method based on robust analytical method to certificate the origin of guarana seeds.