Clarifying the Identity of the Main Ellagitannin in the Fruit of the Strawberry, Fragaria vesca and Fragaria ananassa Duch.

Although the composition of strawberry fruit has been
extensively
studied, especially for the most abundant phenolic compounds, agrimoniin
has never been univocally identified as one of the most abundant phenolic
compounds in the fruit. In this study agrimoniin was isolated in the
fruit of Fragaria vesca and its structure
characterized. Furthermore, its presence was definitively established
to be the main ellagitannin in both F. vesca and Fragaria ananassa D. fruit. The presence of sanguiin
H-6 and lambertianin C as minor compounds was confirmed in both F. vesca and F. ananassa D. samples. For
the first time here is reported the full NMR assignments for agrimoniin.
These data should represent a point of reference for NMR analysis
of this and other structurally related ellagitannins. Finally, the
establishment of an HPLC protocol for separation provided information
making it possible to avoid confusion with sanguiin H-6, the main
ellagitannin in Rubus species, which
is also present in strawberries but at a much lower concentration.