A gradient elution reversed-phase HPLC separation of ginger extract has been developed, which gives better separation than previous isocratic separations. HPLC-UV-electrospray MS has been successfully utilized to identify the individual pungent constituents in the chromatogram of ginger extract. Seven compounds were positively identified as the major pungent constituents of ginger based on their UV spectra, [M+H](+), [M+Na](+) and characteristic sodiated dimer [2M+Na](+) ions, and comparison to data for the purified standards: [6]-gingerol and [6]-shogaol. The pungent compounds were assigned as [6]-gingerol, [8]-gingerol, [10]-gingerol, [6]-shogaol, [8]-shogaol, [IO]-shogaol and [6]-gingediol. Another eight minor compounds were tentatively identified as gingerol analogues. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.
