A NEW METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF PUNGENT COMPOUNDS IN GINGER (ZINGIBER-OFFICINALE)

The compound responsible for the pungency of Australian-grown ginger has been extracted using supercritical CO2. Methods for analysis of gingerols and shogaols by electrospray-MS have been developed and direct analysis of crude extracts without previous chromatographic separation is shown to be possible by negative ion electrospray-MS. The extracts produced by this procedure are shown to contain about 70 g kg(-1) 6-gingerol and less than 2 g kg(-1) 6-shogaol. The low concentration of shogaols, which are degradation products of gingerols, attests to the mild nature of both the extraction and the analytical procedures.