Phenolic Component Profiles of Mustard Greens, Yu Choy, and 15 Other Brassica Vegetables

A liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) profiling method was used to characterize the phenolic components of 17 leafy vegetables from Brassica species other than Brassica oleracea. The vegetables studied were mustard green, baby mustard green, gai choy, baby gai choy, yu choy, yu choy tip, bok choy, bok choy tip, baby bok choy, bok choy sum, Taiwan bok choy, Shanghai bok choy, baby Shanghai bok choy, rapini broccoli, turnip green, napa, and baby napa. This work led to the tentative identification of 71 phenolic compounds consisting of kaempferol 3-O-diglucoside-7-O-glucoside derivatives, isorhamnetin 3-O-glucoside-7-O-glucoside hydroxycinnamoyl gentiobioses, hydroxycinnamoylmalic acids, and hydroxycinnamoylquinic acids. Ten of the compounds, 3-O-diacyltriglucoside-7-O-glucosides of kaempferol and quercetin, had not been previously reported. The phenolic component profiles of these vegetables were significantly different than those of the leafy vegetables from B. oleracea. This is the first comparative study of these leafy vegetables. Ten of the vegetables had never been previously studied by LC-MS.