A metabolomic platform to identify and quantify polyphenols in coffee and related species using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry

Abstract

Caffeine, trigonelline and theobromine were highly abundant in coffee leaves, as expected. Interestingly, wild <i>Rubiaceae</i> leaves had a higher diversity of phytochemicals in comparison to commercial coffee: defense-related molecules, such as phenylpropanoids (e.g., cinnamic acid), the terpenoid gibberellic acid, and the monolignol sinapaldehyde were found more abundantly in wild Rubiaceae leaves.