Development of a Simple Method for Detecting Capsaicinoids Using Gibb's Reagent in Pepper

Capsaicinoids are responsible for the pungency of Capsicum species. Among the several reported methods for quantifying capsaicinoids in pepper, liquid chromatography methods such as TLC and HPLC have been the most widely used due to their precision and reliability. However, they are quite expensive and time consuming to be applied to the field breeding. In this paper, we demonstrated that Gibb's reagent, 2,6-dichloroquinone chlorimide, mediated measurement of capsaicinoids is a simple and reliable method for determining the presence/absence of capsaicinoids, and estimating the amount of capsacinoids in pepper fruits. The capsaicinoids could be also detected via colorimetiric reactions of the Gibb's reagent. This simple method has been verified to be as accurate as the HPLC analysis. We have also modified this method for a high through-put analysis. This method will be useful for measuring capsaicinids in pungency breeding programs in pepper.