Anthocyanin composition and content of the Vaccinium uliginosum berry

Anthocyanins are polyphenols that are widely distributed in plants, and contribute to the brilliant blue, red or purple colour in leaves, flowers or fruits. Their attractive colours and their abundance in the north-east of China make the berries of Vaccinium uliginosum a new and excellent source of natural pigments. The pigments were extracted from the V. uliginosum berry using 0.5% TFA in ethanol solution, purified by an X-5 resin column and characterised by HPLC–DAD analysis. All of the peak assignments were confirmed by low-resolution electrospray mass spectrometry. The results showed that 11 anthocyanins and 2 flavonols were present in the V. uliginosum berry.