Abstract:

In order to identify the characteristics of carotenoids in fresh corns from different cultivars, high performance
liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with diode array detection (DAD) and atmospheric-pressure chemical ionizationmass
spectroscopy (APCI-MS) were applied to identify and quantify the major carotenoids of fresh sweet and waxy corn
grains from five cultivars. A total of 14 and 15 carotenoids were identified from sweet corn grains ‘Jingtian No.3’ and ‘Jingtian
No.5’, respectively, while only a few carotenoids were detected in waxy corn grains ‘Suyunuo No.11’, ‘Jingtianzihuanuo
No.2’ and ‘Jingnuo No.8’. Neochrome, antheraxanthin and 13-cis-lutein-5,6-epoxide were first reported in fresh corn.
The content of carotenoid in sweet corn was highest, reaching 39.68 mg/g dry weight (DW), but there were differences
in different varieties. The major carotenoids were zeaxanthin, lutein and α-cryptoxanthin. The content (about 2.10–
3.69 mg/g DW) of carotennoid in waxy corn was lower. The major carotenoids were zeaxanthin, neoxanthin and
antheraxanthin. Therefore, it might be concluded that the contents and chemical composition of carotenoids were extremely
different among different cultivars of fresh sweet and waxy corns.

Key words: sweet corn, waxy corn, carotenoid, C30-HPLC-DAD-APCI-MS