Study Of The Chemical Composition Of Tea

Camellia sinensis is a plant widely distributed in Jiangsu,Anhui,Zhejiang province, etc. It has the physiological functions of exciting central nerve system, relaxing blood vessels, diuresis, spasmolysys, relieveing a cough, anti-bacteria, anti-tumour and so on.In order to find new compounds with bioactivity, the primary study on its chemical constituents was carried out. By means of silica gel re-chromatography and recrystallizing methods, fourteen compounds were isolated and purified. According to the physicochemical properties and the comparision with the data in the literature, the structures of 14 compounds were identified as follows: caffeine(1), theobromine(2), kaempferol(3), quercetin(4), (+)-catechin(5), (-)-epicatechin(6), rutin(7), Z-9-hexade-cenoic acid(8), phenyl-β-naphthylamine(9), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid(10), 3, 4-dihydro-xybenzoic acid(11), gallic acid(12),β-sitosterol(13), daucosterol(14). Among the known compounds, 8, 9 and 14 were obtained from Camellia species for the first time.