GLC/HPLC Methods for Saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

Abstract

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is provided from the dried and dark-red stigmas of flowers belonging to the family of Iridaceae. Concerning the total content of saffron production, the biggest producer territory in the world is Iran, followed by Spain, India, Italy, Greece, and Morocco. Crocetin, crocin, picrocrocin, and safranal are the four main bioactive compounds in saffron which contribute both organoleptic profile of saffron (pigment, pigment, taste, and odor, respectively) and the health-progressing features. Isolation, identification, and quantification of bioactive compounds from complex and natural matrix of food stuffs are a main and common trouble of initial interest in food quality measurement and characterization. Chromatography is a set of constituents’ separation techniques in a complex mixture. Recently, chromatographic methods were widely used for the isolation, identification, quantification, and analysis of saffron components. Although there are various kinds of chromatographic techniques, more recently a gas chromatography (GC) with a mass spectrometer (MS) detector for the volatile compounds and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) coupled with a UV-Vis detector are the techniques of choice, permitting the isolation on an analytical value and the quantification and identification of the metabolites of interest in saffron. However, this chapter principally conducted the analysis of saffron compounds comprising the aroma and most aroma-active compounds using GC-MS and GC-MS-olfactometry setups and bioactive compounds such as carotenoids, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds using HPLC techniques.