Abstract: The anthocyanins from leaves of the tea cultivar ‘Zijuan’ were separated and purified by sequential column chromatography using MCI gel CHP 20P resin (75–150 μm) and SephadexTM LH-20, through gradient elution with 5% acid-methanol and 5% acid-water. A total of 6 anthocyanins were separated from the purified extract, which were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), thin layer chromatography (TLC) and HPLC-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS). The results showed that the anthocyanins were identified as delphinidin 3-O-β-D-galactoside, cyanidin 3-O-β-D-galactoside, delphinidin 3-O-β-D-(6-(Z)-p-coumaroyl)galactopyranoside, cyanidin 3-O-β-D-(6-(Z)-p-coumaroyl)galactopyranoside, delphinidin 3-O-β-D-(6-(E)-p-coumaroyl)galactopyranoside and cyanidin 3-O-β-D-(6-(E)-p-coumaroyl)galactopyranoside.

Key words: ‘Zijuan&rsquo, tea, anthocyanin, separation and purification, high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS), structure identification