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Application of the relative molar sensitivity method using GC-FID to quantify safranal in saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

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Abstract

Safranal is one flavor component of saffron, which is used as a spice, food additive, and crude drug. In ISO3632, safranal is defined as the compound that contributes to the quality of saffron, and many quantitative determination methods for safranal have been reported. However, safranal is volatile and degrades easily during storage, and an analytical standard with an exact known purity is not commercially available, making it difficult to quantify accurately the content of safranal in saffron. Here, we developed a method for quantifying safranal using relative molar sensitivity (RMS), called the RMS method, using a GC-flame ionization detector (GC-FID). We determined the RMS of safranal to 1,4-bis(trimethylsilyl)benzene-d4, a certified reference material commercially available, by a combination of quantitative NMR and chromatography. Using two GC-FID instruments made by different manufacturers to evaluate inter-instrument effect, the resultant RMS was 0.770, and the inter-instrument difference was 0.6%. The test solution, with a known safranal concentration, was measured by the RMS method, with an accuracy of 99.4–101%, repeatability of 0.81%, and reproducibility of 0.81–1.3%. Given the ease of degradation, high volatility, and uncertain purity of safranal reagents, the RMS method is a more accurate quantification approach compared to the calibration curve method and methods based on absorption spectrophotometry. Moreover, our findings revealed that the GC-FID makeup gas affected the RMS and quantitative values.

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Acknowledgements

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Funding

This work was partially supported by a Health and Labour Sciences Research Grant (No. 23KA1012) from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 21K20735) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Food Additives, National Institute of Health Sciences, 3-25-26, Tonomachi, Kawasaki-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, 210-9501, Japan

    Naoko Masumoto & Naoki Sugimoto

  2. Meiji Pharmaceutical University, 2-522-1 Noshio, Kiyose-Shi, Tokyo, 204-8588, Japan

    Takumi Ohno, Toshihiro Suzuki & Tadayasu Togawa

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  1. Naoko Masumoto
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  2. Takumi Ohno
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  3. Toshihiro Suzuki
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  4. Tadayasu Togawa
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  5. Naoki Sugimoto
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Contributions

NS, TS and TT designed study conception. NS and NM initiated and directed the project. NM designed the experiments, and TO and NM conducted the experiments, analyzed, and interpreted the results. NM wrote the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the article.

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Correspondence to Naoko Masumoto.

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Masumoto, N., Ohno, T., Suzuki, T. et al. Application of the relative molar sensitivity method using GC-FID to quantify safranal in saffron (Crocus sativus L.). J Nat Med 77, 829–838 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-023-01724-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-023-01724-8

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