Anthocyanins are plant pigments of economic interest, due to their use as natural colorants, as well as their pharmacological application. Analysis of inflorescences of Tarenaya rosea (Vahl ex DC.) Soares Neto & Roalson by high performance liquid chromatography coupled to diode array detector and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD/ESIMS) revealed the presence of acylated cyanidins and a peonidin. Ten anthocyanins acylated with p-coumaric, caffeic, ferulic, sinapic or

more »

... nzoic acid were detected. The major peak was identified as cyanidin 3-(p-coumaroyl)(p-coumaroyl) diglucoside-5-glucoside. Two anthocyanins, (cyanidin 3-(p-hydroxybenzoyl) diglucoside-5-glucoside and cyanidin 3-(glycopyranosylcaffeoyl) diglucoside-5-glucoside), were detected only in the inflorescences when compare to other analyses previously performed with the species. The study of the anthocyanin content in plant species is an important step in the development of strategies for the commercial exploitation of these pigments. The results obtained in the present work showed the diversity of anthocyanins in the inflorescences of T. rosea.