Development and Validation of a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Method for the Determination of Epoxyaurapten From Pomelo Peel

Furanocoumarins found in citrus fruits are recognized for their health benefits, but are also known to induce photosensitivity and allergic reactions. Therefore, it is necessary to establish reliable analytical methods for their quantification. In this study, a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) procedure was developed to quantify epoxyaurapten, a furanocoumarin compound in pomelo peel. The effects of extraction solvent, liquid-to-material ratio, ultrasonic time, and extraction cycles on the extraction of epoxyaurapten from pomelo peel were investigated, and the optimal sample pretreatment conditions were determined to ensure the extraction efficiency. The results indicated a high degree of precision with a linear correlation coefficient of 0.9999. The limits of detection and limits of quantification were determined to be 0.5 and 2 μg/mL, respectively. The spiked recovery ranged from 101.24% to 110.46%, with the precision experiment revealing a standard deviation of 0.20% and stability experiments demonstrating a standard deviation of 1.76%. In addition, the HPLC method was successfully employed to detect the content of epoxyaurapten in different pomelo varieties and their various parts. The results revealed that epoxyaurapten was detected only in the exocarp of pomelo cultivars. This finding gives significant implication for further research on the application of epoxyaurapten in pomelo studies.