Development and Validation of a Sensitive Method for Analysis of Ellagic Acid in Dietary Supplements from Punica granatum

Abstract

Ellagic acid is a popular antioxidant dietary supplement. It is a natural phenolic compound common to multiple botanical sources. The ellagic acid based dietary supplements are manufactured by hydrolysis of ellagitannins from Punica granatum. However, use of ellagic acid from sources other than P. granatum is not uncommon. Currently, there is no robust analytical methodologies for quantification and confirmation of the enriched ellagic acid (›40%) source in commercial products. Therefore, we have developed and validated ultra-fast liquid chromatography - photodiode array detector and ultra-fast liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry methods for quantification and source identification of ellagic acid in commercial products. The results of the study confirm punicalin A-B, punicalagin A and B as positive markers and catechin and chebulinic acid as adulteration markers.