High-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric investigation of stilbenoids in cell cultures of Vitis vinifera L., cv. Malvasia

Cell suspension cultures of Vitis vinifera L., particularly after elicitation, have shown the ability to biosynthesize several stilbenoids. In this work the application of specific tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) experiments and the integration with data from UV-vis spectra, available only for the main compounds of the extract, allowed the detection of over 20 different stilbenoids. Up to eight monoglicosides, both monomers and dimers, a high number of dimer forms (up to 17), belonging to the group of viniferins and to their oxidized derivatives, were identified in the extract of Malvasia cell cultures. Moreover, the selectivity and sensitivity of the method allowed detection also of a few cis derivatives (up to 3) present in very low concentrations and presumably produced by the light exposure during treatment of the sample. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there are no literature data on MS/MS experiments targeted to simultaneously study monomeric and dimeric stilbenoids, both as free and glycosilated forms, in a complex mixture from V. vinifera cell suspension cultures.