The main carotenoids from green leafy vegetables have been consistently found to be lutein, beta-carotene, violaxanthin and neoxanthin. However, there is a controversy about the identity of minor carotenoids. Therefore, electron impact mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector were used in order to confirm the identity of the minor provitamin A carotenoids in Brazilian green leaves. The provitamin A carotenoids, including the cis and trans isomers of beta-carotene, were separated on a polymeric C18 column, Vydac 201TP54, with MeOH/H2O (98:2) as mobile phase. The UV-visible and mass spectra confirmed that the monohydroxy carotenoid present in Brazilian green leafy vegetable to be alpha-cryptoxanthin, and not beta-cryptoxanthin as reported in the international literature. All eleven green leaves analyzed (water-cress, unheaded lettuce, lettuce, wild chicory, "caruru", common chicory, kale, spinach, endive, roquette, parsley, and "taioba") had alpha-cryptoxanthin, 9-cis and 13-cis- beta-carotene, whereas alpha-carotene was found in only four of these leaves ("caruru", kale, salsinha and "taioba").
carotenoids; mass spectrometry; high performance liquid chromatography; green leafy vegetables
