Development and validation of methods for quantitative determination of α-solanine, α-chaconine, solanidine in extracts from potato tuber peels BY High-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Promising metabolites of potato tuberosum (Solanum tuberosum L., f. Solanaceae) are α-solanine, α-chaconine and their aglycone solanidine.

The aim of the work was to develop and validate methods for a quantitative analysis of α-solanine, α-chaconine and solanidine in dry extracts from the potato tuber peels by a high-performance liquid chromatography with a tandem  mass-selective detection (HPLC/MS/MS).

Materials and methods. The analysis was performed in a gradient mode on an Ultimate 3000 chromatograph (ThermoFisher, USA) with a TSQ Fortis tandem mass-selective detector and a 4.6 mm×100 mm, 5 μm, 100 Å UCT Selectra C18 column. An electrospray in a positive ionization mode was used in this work. The following mass transitions were used for the quantitative analysis: α-solanine, 868.4→398.3 m/z; α-chaconine, 853.4→706.3 m/z; solanidine, 398.3→98.1 m/z. The following mass transitions were used for the internal standard fexofenadine: 502.3→171 m/z and 502.3→466.2 m/z. The analysis time was 10 min. The developed chromatography conditions were validated for a suitability. The validation was performed according to the following parameters: specificity, analytical range, linearity, correctness, precision and a lower limit of quantification.

Results. The validation procedure showed that the methodology was selective, sufficiently sensitive for α-solanine, α-chaconine and solanidine (lower limits of the quantification were 50, 10 and 2 ng/mL, respectively), the linear in the concentration range of 50–5000, 10–5000 and 2–100 ng/mL, respectively; it was satisfactorily correct (RSD did not  exceed 7% for each of the substances) and sufficiently sensitive (RSD for α-solanine did not exceed 5%, for α-chaconine and solanidine – not more than 10%).

Conclusion. A technique for a quantitative determination of α-solanine, α-chaconine and solanidine in dry extracts obtained from potato tuber peels by HPLC/MS/MS has been developed and validated. This technique can be used in the routine practice of the glycoalkaloids quantitative determination when analyzing their content in food products and combination medicines.

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