A Rapid Liquid Chromatography Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry(n) method for evaluation of synephrine in Citrus aurantium L. samples

Immature bitter orange fruit and its extracts have been introduced into the market as an alternative
to Ephedra in weight loss products. However, the safety of the immature bitter orange fruit and its
extracts is a debated argument due to the presence of synephrine, a constituent known as a
sympathomimetic agent. In this paper, we describe the development of a new, rapid, and simple
liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry method devoted to the
quantitative determination of synephrine in bitter orange samples, containing a high quantity of
synephrine, and sweet orange samples, known to contain a low level of synephrine but at the same
time being one of the main synephrine sources in a normal human diet. Two bitter orange dry extracts
containing 5 and 6% sSynephrine and 10 sweet orange samples have been analyzed. Between the
sweet orange samples, six were fresh oranges and four were fresh-squeezed juices; in these samples,
the synephrine levels ranged from 0.00128 to 0.00349%.