Determination of anthocyanins in blood orange juices by HPLC analysis

Determination of anthocyanins in fresh and concentrated juices can be a par ameter for the assessment of authenticity and quality of blood orange juice s. This work reports an HPLC/UV-Vis method developed for quantitative deter mination of anthocyanins in blood orange juices, by using a calibration cur ve obtained for standard cyanidin-3-glucoside. Samples analysed have been o btained from fruits of different trees (one for each of the varieties: 'Mor o','Tarocco', 'Sanguinello' and 'Sanguinello nocellare') harvested about ev ery 15 days during the 1998 productive season. Seasonal variation has been also evaluated. HPLC results were compared with spectrophotometric measurem ents, using a calibration curve obtained for cyanidin-3-glucoside solutions . The two methods showed good agreement, but the results obtained greately differed with the data reported in the literature. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scienc e B.V. All rights reserved.