Abstract:

An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-PDA-MS/MS) method was developed for the determination of flavonol glycosides in tea samples. The chromatographic separation was performed on an UPLC HSS T3 column by gradient elution with the mobile phases of acetonitrile and water both containing 0.1%(v/v) formic acid. A total of 15 flavonol glycosides which include 3 myricetin glycosides, 6 quercetin glycosides and 6 kaempferol glycosides were positively identified in green and black tea samples by comparing the retention times and mass spectra of the samples with standards and publications. The quantities of flavonol glycosides were relatively calculated with the standard quercetin-3-rhamnosylglucoside (Q-GRh) which was calibrated with external quantification method using multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The results showed that there were different flavonol glycoside distributions in green tea and black tea. The total amount of flavonol glycosides in green tea was 1.7 times of that in black tea. The major flavonol glycosides in green tea were myricetin-3-galactoside (M-Ga), myricetin-3-glucoside (M-G), quercetin-3-glucosyl-rhamnosyl-galactoside (Q-GaRhG), quercetin-3-glucosyl-rhamnosyl-glucoside (Q-GRhG), kaempferol-3-glucosyl-rhamnosyl-galactoside (K-GaRhG) and kaempferol-3-glucosyl-rhamnosyl-glucoside (K-GRhG), but for black tea, the major flavonol glycosides were quercetin-3-rhamnosylglucoside (Q-GRh), quercetin-3-glucoside (Q-G), kaempferol-3-rhamnosylglucoside (K-GRh) and kaempferol-3-galactoside (K-Ga). The present method is accurate, convenient for the rapid identification of flavonol glycosides and analysis of constituent distribution for green and black teas.

Key words: flavonol glycosides, teas, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-PDA-MS/MS)