Abstract
Interest in the recovery of the polymethoxylated flavones from citrus oil residues has prompted renewed investigations of the phenols in oil nonvolatile fractions. Fractionation of the phenolic constituents in orange oil by silica gel chromatography facilitated the detection of citromitin (3',4',5,6,7,8-hexamethoxy flavanone) and a putative pentamethoxy flavanone by HPLC-MS. The HPLC peak of the compound, identified as citromitin, overlapped with a citromitin standard, and exhibited identical UV and MS properties with the citromitin standard. Citromitin has been reported in Citrus mitis and Citrus reticulata , but has not been previously reported in sweet orange. The pentamethoxy flavanone exhibited a UV spectrum similar to citromitin and had a [M+H MS signal at 375 amu, consistent with its putative structure. Further HPLC-MS analyses provided evidence of several other flavanones; the identifications of these compounds are in progress.
