Characterization of cassanese olive cultivar through the identification ofnew trace components by ionspray tandem mass spectrometry

Pneumatically assisted electrospray (ionspray) coupled with liquid chromato graphy was applied in the identification of antioxidants present in traces in the leaves of Olea europea L. cv. Cassanese, a typical olive tree from t he northeastern part of Calabria region in Italy. The structures of these p otential biomarkers were evaluated with reference to established mass spect rometric rules or, in one case, by matching the tandem mass spectrum of the unknown with that of an authentic sample obtained by synthesis. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.