A HPLC-UV METHOD FOR ANALYSIS OF TOTAL PLANT EXTRACT AND CATECHIN FRACTION OF BANCHA GREEN TEA

Abstract

The pharmacological characterization of Bancha green tea requires a preliminary establishment of its phytochemical composition. The aim of the present study was to develop a simple, sensitive, and environmentally friendly HPLC-UV procedure for the simultaneous quantification of caffeine, (+)-catechin, epigallocatechin gallate and gallic acid in different Bancha green tea isolates. The chromatographic separation of the four phytochemicals was performed on a Hypersil GOLD aQ column with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile/acetic acid/bi-distilled water (8:1:91 v/v/v), in an isocratic mode of elution. The suitability of the proposed procedure was verified by achieved satisfying linearity and specificity. The method was also assessed as accurate and precise, with the obtained limits of quantification of caffeine, (+)-catechin, epigallocatechin gallate, and gallic acid of 0.01, 0.30, 0.50 and 0.03 μg/mL, respectively. As it was expected, the analytical procedure approbation showed the highest epigallocatechin gallate content (16.78 % ± 0.54) in the catechin fraction. On the other hand, the amount of caffeine and epigallocatechin gallate in the total plant extract was almost the same (4.19 % ± 0.14 and 4.12 % ± 0.44, respectively). A reliable HPLC-UV method for phytochemical characterisation of Bancha green tea extracts has been developed. The conducted quantitate assay could be used as a basis for subsequent pharmacological in vivo and in vitro studies of Bancha green tea.