Identification and quantification of selected metabolites in differently pigmented leaves of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) cultivars harvested at mature and bolting stages

Background Identification and screening of cultivars rich in bioactive phytoconstituents can be potentially useful to make nutrient-dense dishes and in medicinal formulations. In this study, we have identified, characterized and quantified caffeoylquinic acids, dicaffeoylquinic acid, dicaffeoyltartaric acid, kaempferol conjugates, quercetin malonylglucoside, sesquiterpene lactones, and cyanidin in 22 lettuce cultivars at mature and bolting stages using UPLC-PDA-Q-TOF-HDMS, UPLC, and HPLC.Results The composition and contents of the studied metabolites and antioxidant activity varied significantly and depend on leaf color, cultivar type and stage of maturity. The main phenolic acid components of lettuce were quinic and tartaric acid derivatives, whereas kaempferol derivatives were the dominant flavonoids. The sum of the content of phenolic acids ranged from 18.3 to 54.6 mg/100 g DW and 15.5 to 54.6 mg/100 g DW, whereas the sum of the contents of flavonoids ranged from 9.2 to 25.9 mg/100 g DW and 14.9 to 83.0 mg/100 g DW in mature and bolting stage cultivars, respectively. The content of cyanidin, lactucin, lactucopicrin, and ABTS radical antioxidant activity were in the range of 0.3 to 9.7 (mature stage) and 0.5 to 10.2 mg/g DW (bolting stage), 1.8 to 41.9 (mature stage) and 9.7 to 213.0 (bolting stage) µg/g DW, 9.9 to 344.8 (mature stage) and 169.2 to 3888.2 (bolting stage) µg/g DW, and 12.1 to 29.0 (mature stage) and 15.7 to 30.3 (bolting stage) mg TE/g DW, respectively. The principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the green and red pigmented lettuce cultivars were grouped to the negative and positive sides of PC1, respectively, while the green/red pigmented cultivars were distributed throughout the four quadrants of the PCA plots with no prominent grouping. The loading plot showed that phenolic acids, flavonoids, and cyanidin are the most potent contributors to the radical scavenging activity of lettuce extracts.Conclusions Lettuce at the bolting stage accumulate relatively high amount of sesquiterpene lactones (SLs), quercetin malonylglucoside (QMG), methylkaempferol glucuronide (MKGR), kaempferol malonylglucoside (KMG), and 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid (3-CQA) compared to the mature stage. Higher amount of phytoconstituents were found to be accumulated in the red pigmented lettuce leaves compared to the green lettuce leaves. In addition, the contents of most of the metabolites in lettuce seem to increase with age of the leaves. The presence of the two bitter SLs, lactucin and lactucopicrin, in significantly high amount in lettuce leaves at bolting stage could diminish consumer acceptance. However, alternatively, these leaves could be utilized by nutraceutical companies working to recover these compounds.