Abstract: In this study, the contents of ellagic acid (EA) in different parts of mature longan cultivars Shixia and Chuliang were determined by HPLC. The sample extraction was achieved through hot reflux in 30 mL of 80% methanol aqueous solution for 2 h. The chromatographic separation was achieved on an Agilent C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 μm) using a mobile phase composed of methanol, water and glacial acetic acid (50:49.7:0.3, V/V) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The injection volume, column temperature and detection wavelength were set at 10 μL, 35 ℃ and 254 nm, respectively. The linear range for EA was 1－200 μg/mL with a regression coefficient of 0.999. HPLC results showed that the content of EA in different parts of longan cultivars Shixia and Chuliang decreased in the following order: stone fruit ＞ peel ＞ pulp. The EA levels in the peel and pulp measured in this study were much higher than those reported in other fruits.

Key words: longan, ellagic acid, high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)