Abstract: A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of four major anthocyanins in Zijuan tea, pelargonidin-3,5-diglucoside, cyanidin-3-O-galactoside, pelargonidin and malvidin. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a YMC-Pack ODS-AQ C18 column using a mobile phase made up of 0.5% formic acid and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min by gradient elution Column temperature and detection wavelength were set as 35℃ and 520 nm, respectively. The anthocyanins were separated well and showed good linear relationship over the concentration range of 0.03–0.10 mg/mL with correlation coefficients greater than 0.999. The precision RSDs of the HPLC method were 0.73%–1.48% (n = 5), and the recovery rates of these anthocyanins were in the range of 94.84%–96.46%. The contents of pelargonidin-3,5-diglucoside, cyanidin-3-O-galactoside, pelargonidin and malvidin in Zijuan tea were determined to be 83.5, 227.0, 46.3 μg/g and 70.5 μg/g, respectively. This method was convenient, rapid, accurate and applicable to determine anthocyanins in Zijuan tea and other tea samples.

Key words: Zijuan tea, anthocyanins, constituents, HPLC