Selection of citrus varieties highly productive for the neohesperidin dihydrochalcone precursor

The levels of the flavanones, neohesperidin and naringin, and the neohesperidinnaringin ratio in immature and mature fruit of different varieties of Citrus aurantium and the Citrus paradisi Macf. × Citrus depresssa Hayata hybrid are compared, and the flavonic content is analysed for the first time. Fruits of the hybrid, which are used to obtain neohesperidin for industrial-scale transformation into the intensely sweet neohesperidin dihycrochalcone, have two advantages: (1) although the levels of neohesperidin in the hybrid are similar to those detected in the immature fruit of Citrus aurantium, the levels of naringin detected in the immature fruit of the hybrid are lower, which means that the neohesperidinnaringin ratio is greater and the need for costly neohesperidin purification processes correspondingly less; (2) unlike the mature fruit of Citrus aurantium, the mature fruits of the hybrid accumulate high levels of neohesperidin with a high neohesperidinnaringin ratio, so that these too can be used to obtain neohesperidin.