Abstract: The contents of total and individual phenolics in potato flesh and skin from different growing areas in Xinjiang, Jiangxi, Fujian and Beijing were comparatively determined by both HPLC and Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetry. The gradient elution of phenolics was carried out on YMC-C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) using methanol (mobile phase A) and .5% phosphoric acid (mobile phase B). Baseline separation was observed for chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid and rutin. All of them showed good linear relationship over a wide concentration range. The average spike recoveries for them from a known sample were 91.36%－102.23% (n = 3). The total phenolic contents in all samples under investigation were 0.238－1.190 mg/g. Chlorogenic acid accounted for 80.59%－89.06% of the total phenolics in potato flesh compared to 65.54%－80.00% in potato skin. The HPLC method was quick, accurate, reliable and repeatable. The Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetry method was more suitable for the determination of total phenolics in potato.

Key words: potato, phenolic compounds, high performance liquid chromatography, folin method