• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.224-232
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• 2008

The health benefits associated with tea consumption have resulted in the wide inclusion of green tea extracts in botanical dietary supplements, which are widely consumed as adjuvants for complementary and alternative medicines. Tea contains polyphenols such as catechins or flavan-3-ols including (-)-epicatechin (EC), (-)-epigallocatechin (EGC), (-)-epicatechin gallate (ECG), and (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), as well as the alkaloid, caffeine. The contents of catechins and caffeine in green tea are considered as a standard of quality evaluation of green tea. Therefor, the purpose of this study was to investigate the most suitable HPLC condition for simultaneous determination of catechins and caffeine in green tea extracts. The efficient HPLC analytical condition of catechins and caffeine contained green tea extracts was developed. The gradient elution employed a $250\;mm\;{\times}\;4.6\;mm$ i.d. YMC-pak ODS-AM 303 column. The gradient system was used two mobile phases. A gradient elution was performed with mobile phase A, consisting of 0.1% aqueous phosphoric acid, and mobile phase B, comprising 100% MeOH, and delivered at a flow rate of 1 mL/min as follows: $0{\sim}25\;min$, 80% A; $26{\sim}50\;min$, $80{\sim}70%$ A; 51 min, 80% A. $51{\sim}55\;min$, 80% A. The UV detection wavelength was set at 280 nm. The limit of detection (LOD) for catechins and caffeine standards were under 50 ng/mL.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nutrition Society Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.184.1-184.1
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• 2003

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.576-585
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• 2003

An improved method in place of a conventional vanillin spectroscopic method (CVSM) was developed for determination of catechin and its derivatives in extract and oil of grape seeds. For the CVSM, grape seed extracts had relatively high catechin content in the range of $17{\sim}43%$ (g/100g of extract), while grape seed oils had relatively smaller catechin content in the range of $30{\sim}40mg%$ (mg/100g of oil). For the improved vanillin spectroscopic method (IVSM) using a polyamide cartridge, catechin content of grape seed extracts was in the range of $4.0{\sim}7.5%$, while that of grape seed oils was below 5 ppm. Meanwhile, the quantities of catechin and its derivatives were determined by HPLC in the grape seed extracts and oils. Four major catechins [(+)-catechin, procyanidin B2, (-)-epicatechin, and epicatechin gallate] were detected from grape seed extracts, and the ranges of concentrations were as follows: (+)-catechin, $1.35{\sim}2.60%$; procyanidin $B_2$, $0.77{\sim}1.36%$; (-)-epicatechin, $2.35{\sim}4.59%$; (-)-epicatechin gallate, $0.06{\sim}0.30%$. In contrast, four catechins were barely detectable in the grape seed oils. The reproducibility of four major catechins in grape seed extracts, given as coefficient of variation, was below 5%, and the recovery close to above 95%. The achieved detection level of four catechins was $1{\sim}5\;ppm$. Additionally, the contents of catechin compositions in grape seed extract were also determined by HPLC in relation to different cultivars and producing areas. Thus, HPLC method and IVSM using polyamide cartridge can be used as alternative to CVSM for determination of catechin and its derivatives in extract and oil of grape seeds.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.386-392
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• 2010

This study was done to measure the color and catechins contents in processed teas using the whole bands (400~2500 nm) with near-infrared spectroscopy(NIRS). The powder colors of 109 processed teas were measured with a colorimeter. The a/b ratios in Hunter color scale in processed teas accounted for about 98.9% of the variation in the fermentation degree(FD), indicating that the a/b ratio was a very useful trait for assessing fermentation degree. Also tea powders were scanned in the visible bands used with NIRSystem. The calibration equations for powder colors were developed using the regression method of modified partial least squares(MPLS) with the internal cross validation. The equations had low SECV (standard errors of cross-validation), and high $R^2$ (coefficient of determination in calibration) values with 0.996~1.00, indicating that the visible bands(400~700 nm) with NIRS could be used to rapidly measure the variables related to powder color and fermentation degree. Also another powders of 137 processed teas were scanned at 780~2500 nm bands in the reflectance mode. The calibration equations were developed using the regression method of MPLS with the internal cross validation. The equations had low SECV, and high $R^2$ (0.896~0.983) values, showing that NIRS could be used to rapidly discriminate the contents of EGC($R^2$=0.919), EC(0.896), EGCg(0.978), ECg(0.905) and total catechins(0.983) in processed teas with high precision and ease.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1162-1162
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• 2001

Whereas NIR spectroscopy has been applied in agriculture for more than 20 years, few studies refer to those plant substances occurring only in smaller amounts. Nevertheless there is a growing interest today to support efficiently activities in the production of high-quality medicinal and spice plants by this fast and non-invasive method. Therefore, it was the aim of this study to develop new NIR methods for the reliable prediction of secondary metabolites found as valuable substances in various plant species. First, sophisticated NIR methods were established to perform fast quality analyses of intact fennel, caraway and dill fruits deriving from single-plants [1]. Later on, a characterization of several leaf drugs and the corresponding fresh material has been successfully performed. In this context robust calibrations have been developed for dried peppermint, rosemary and sage leaves for the determination of their individual essential oil content and composition [2]. A specially adopted NIR method has been developed also for the analysis of carnosic acid in the leaves of numerous rosemary and sage gene bank accessions. Carnosic acid is an antioxidative substance for which several health promoting properties including cancer preservation are assumed. Also some other calibrations have been developed for non-volatile substances such as aspalathin (in unfermented rooibos leaves), catechins (in green tea) and echinacoside (in different Echinacea species) [3]. Some NIR analyses have also been successfully performed on fresh material, too. In spite of the fact that these measurements showed less accuracy in comparison to dried samples, the calibration equations are precise enough to register the individual plant ontogenesis and genetic background. Based on the information received, the farmers and breeders are able to determine the right harvest time (when the valuable components have reached their optimum profile) and to select high-quality genotypes during breeding experiments, respectively. First promising attempts have also been made to introduce mobile diode array spectrometers to collect the spectral data directly on the field or in the individual natural habitats. Since the development of reliable NIRS methods in this special field of application is very time-consuming and needs continuous maintenance of the calibration equations over a longer period, it is convenient to supply the corresponding calibration data to interested user via NIRS network. The present status of all activities, preformed in this context during the last three years, will be presented in detail.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.513-518
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• 2005

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) method was developed to determine (+)-catechin and (-)-epicatechin contents in grape seed ethanol extract. CE separation was achieved using 100 mM phosphate and borate buffer at pH 6.0 as background electrolyte and fused silica capillary with 50 microns x 375 microns O.D. (effective length 20.0cm) maintained at $25^{\circ}C$. The applied voltage was 10kV, and detection was performed by DAD at 210 nm, Two catechins were well separated within 6 min with repeatability of <0.8% RSD for migration time and <2.0% RSD for peak area, and correlation coefficients higher than 0.994 were obtained from 58.0 to 174.0 mg/L with detection limit of 0.035 mg/L. Separated compounds were successfully determined. CE method was easy to handle and showed good reproducibility. CE method was compared with conventional coloring and HPLC methods, and main advantages of CE method were low amount of sample required, simple pre-sample treatment, good recovery rate, and short analysis time.