High-performance liquid chromatography methods for the analysis of adrenergic amines and flavanones in Citrus aurantium L. var. amara.

Reverse-phase HPLC coupled with photodiode array detection was used for the simultaneous separation and determination of naturally occurring adrenergic amines (octopamine, synephrine and tyramine) in fruits and dry extracts of Citrus aurantium L. var. amara and in herbal medicines derived therefrom. Synephrine was the main component in fruits (0.10-0.35%) and in dry extracts (3.00-3.08%) and was present in the range 0.25-0.99% in herbal medicines. Flavanones were analysed in the same samples using a reverse-phase HPLC technique which allowed the identification and quantification of neoeriocitrin, narirutin, naringin, hesperidin, neohesperidin, naringenin and hesperetin. C. aurantium fruits and derivatives contained mainly glycosylated flavanones: in particular, naringin and neohesperidin were found to be the major flavonoids and their concentrations ranged from 1.80 to 26.30 and from 3.90 to 14.71 mg/g, respectively. The levels of aglycones were very low in all samples tested.