Chinese Journal of Chromatography ›› 2017, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (11): 1192-1197.DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1123.2017.08002

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Isolation and purification of seven catechin compounds from fresh tea leaves by semi-preparative liquid chromatography

GONG Zhihong1,2, CHEN Si1,2,3, GAO Jiangtao4, LI Meihong1,2,3, WANG Xiaxia1,2, LIN Jun1,2, YU Xiaomin1,2,3   

  1. 1. Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics Center, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China;
    2. Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Fuzhou 350002, China;
    3. College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China;
    4. College of Life Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
  • Received:2017-08-02 Online:2017-11-08 Published:2014-01-17
  • Supported by:

    Fujian Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2016J01108).

Abstract:

An effective and simple method was established to simultaneously purify seven tea catechins (gallocatechin (GC), epigallocatechin (EGC), catechin (C), epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG), epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin-3-O-(3-O-methyl)-gallate (EGCG3"Me) and epicatechin-3-O-gallate (ECG)) from fresh tea leaves by semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Fresh leaves of Tieguanyin tea were successively extracted with methanol and chloroform. Then crude catechins were precipitated from the aqueous fraction of chloroform extraction by adding lead subacetate. Crude catechins were used for the isolation of the seven target catechin compounds by semi-preparative HPLC. Methanol-water and acetonitrile-water were sequentially used as mobile phases. After two rounds of semi-preparative HPLC, all target compounds were achieved with high purities (>90%). The proposed method was tested on two additional tea cultivars and showed similar results. This method demonstrated a simple and efficient strategy based on solvent extraction, ion precipitation and semi-preparative HPLC for the preparation of multiple catechins from tea leaves.

Key words: catechin compounds, ion precipitation, isolation and purification, semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), tea leaves

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