Qualitative analysis of phenolic metabolites from date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) tree by using liquid chromatography hyphenated with mass-spectrometry detection system

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is an important fruit tree, native to the hot arid regions of the world, mainly grown in the Middle East and North Africa. Since the ancient time, this plant has been widely used as a food and also in the folk medicine, due to its health-promoting properties. In spite of many previous works concerning the phenolic composition of dates fruits, studies on the phenolic composition of the other different parts of the tree are still scarce. In this sense, analysis of dates composition has been carried out by HPLC–DAD-ESI/MSⁿ as a powerful screening tool for exploring its phenolic metabolites. Thus, over 50 phenolics have been characterized in the date palm samples analyzed. Of which, about 30 compounds are described herein in the dates' material for the first time. Remarkably, kaempferol glycosides and malonyl derivatives detected in this work haven’t been reported previously in P. dactylifera. The method used provides more information on dates’ chemical composition, which may be advantageous for further research to understand the effects of this plant on the human health. Also, the information obtained should help nutritionists and food technologists to become aware of the benefits of using this traditional plant in contemporary diets as potential sources of antioxidants. Additionally, data in this work may support the ancient and current use of this plant parts in as a source for functional ingredients in the medicinal, pharmaceutical, and dietary uses.