Identification of the flavonoid fraction in saffron spice by LC/DAD/MS/MS: Comparative study of samples from different geographical origins

The flavonoid fraction in saffron spice has been analysed, for the first time, by LC-DAD-MS/MS ESI and five kaempferol derivatives have been found. Compounds such as kaempferol-3-sophoroside, kaempferol-3-sophoroside-7-glucoside and kaempferol-3,7,4′-triglucoside were tentatively identified, whereas other compounds, such as kaempferol tetrahexoside and kaempferol-3-dihexoside were detected. Saffron samples from different geographical origins were clearly separated by their kaempferol 3-sophoroside contents that were able to explain 100% of the variance when a discriminant test was carried out.