Profiling of Phenolic Compounds in Fruit Pericarp of Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Roxb.) DC

Indian prickly ash [ Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Roxb.) DC.] is a multipurpose, but lesser known underutilized spice of Western Ghats of India. The edible fruit pericarp is commonly used in culinary items in dried form to improve flavor and shelf life of culinary products especially fish curries. In the present study, we have identified 18 phenolic acids from Zanthoxyllum rhetsa fruit pericarp using LC–MS/MS. The main phenolic acid in fruit pericarp were observed to be Ferulic acid (2100 µg/g), Caffeic acid (404.60 µg/g), Sinapic acid (247.24 µg/g), p-Coumaric acid (177.56 µg/g), t-Cinnamic acid (119.20 µg/g) and Gentisic acid (104.24 µg/g). Out of 18 identified compounds Ferulic acid and Caffeic acid constituted 64.27% and 12.38%, respectively. Profiling of phenolic compounds in pericarp of Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Roxb.) DC could substantiate edible use of fruits as phenolic acids play an important role in health and funcional foods.