Rapid, direct determination of polyphenols in tea by reversed-phase column liquid chromatography

Column liquid chromatography on a C18-bonded silica column with water-methanol-acetic acid as eluent was used to determine polyphenols and caffeine in tea. Without any pretreatment, catechin, epicatechin gallate, epigallocatechin gallate, epigallocatechin, epicatechin and caffeine were separated successfully within 15 min. The detection limits (S/N = 3) of polyphenols studied were 1.8-24 mg/l at a detection wavelength 270 nm. The linear range of the peak area calibration curves for the analytes were over two orders of magnitude with a correlation coefficient of 0.996-0.999. Using this method, some Chinese tea samples were analyzed with a good reproducibility (RSD are below 5%).