A Rapid UPLC Method for Simultaneous Analysis of Caffeine and 13 Index Polyphenols in Black Tea

A fast ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method has been developed for simultaneous analysis of caffeine and 13 index polyphenols-gallic acid, 8 primary catechins and 4 primary theaflavins in black tea. The method was evaluated in terms of linearity, precision, accuracy and recovery. The lower limits of detection and quantification were in the range of 0.05-0.91 and 0.15-3.00 mg/L, respectively. Satisfactory linearity with correlation coefficient (R2 > 0.9992), interday and intraday precision with the relative standard deviations (<2.94% and <5.06%, respectively), interday and intraday accuracy with relative errors (REs, -5.34% < REs < 4.36% and -5.36% < REs < 7.07%, respectively) and recovery (95.81-104.48%) were achieved for all target compounds. The UPLC method was applied for the analysis of the 14 compounds in 6 black tea samples.