Hplc grade solvents

Carrots (Daucus carota L. cv. Nantes, 80 kg) were obtained from a local fresh-cut processor (Campotec, Torres Vedras, Portugal) and transported to the lab in a refrigerated truck (5 °C ± 2 °C) in commercial stackable box containers (600 × 400 × 100 mm). Upon arrival to the laboratory, the carrots were hand-sorted (removal of damaged units), washed (50 mg/L NaOCl), dried, and maintained at 5 °C (± 1 °C; FitoClima S600, Aralab—Equipamentos de Laboratório e Electromecânica Geral Lda., Rio de Mouro, Portugal) until use (16 h).
For packaging, oriented polypropylene (OPP) films (Amcor Flexibles Neocel—Embalagens Lda., Lisbon, Portugal) were provided by the same fresh-cut processor (Campotec, Torres Vedras, Portugal).
Commercial standards of chlorogenic acid (CAS 327-97-9) and β-carotene (CAS 7235-40-7) were purchased from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO, USA). HPLC-grade solvents were purchased from Panreac (Barcelona, Spain), and analytical grade solvents were purchased from Panreac (Barcelona, Spain) and Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA).

Ascorbic, 5-caffeoylquinic acid, 3′,4′-dihydroxycinnamic acid, 4′-hydroxy-3′-methoxycinnamic acid, 4′-hydroxycinnamic acid; hippuric acid, 3-(3′,4′-dihydroxyphenyl)propanoic acid, 3-(4′-hydroxy-3′-methoxyphenyl)propanoic acid, 3-(4′-hydroxyphenyl)propanoic acid, 3-(3′-hydroxyphenyl)propanoic acid, 3′,4′-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, 4′-hydroxy-3′-methoxyphenylacetic acid, 4′-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, 3′-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, and 3-hydroxybenzoic acid were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Madrid, Spain). 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid was purchased from PhytoLab (Vestenbergsgreuth, Germany). HPLC-grade solvents were acquired from Panreac (Madrid, Spain). Ultrapure water from MilliQ system (Millipore, Bedford, MA, USA) was used throughout the experiment.