The Determination Method of Total Polyphenol in Tea and Substitute Tea Based on [Ag(HIO6)2]5−–Luminol Chemiluminescence System

Abstract

Abstract Background Scientific, accurate, and rapid detection of the composition and content of tea polyphenols is an important basis for their rational use and giving full play to their physiological effect. The spectrophotometric assays for total polyphenols have poor selectivity. Therefore, there is a need to develop a simple and reliable method for the determination of the total polyphenolic level in tea products. Objective The aim of this research was to develop a flow injection chemiluminescence (FI-CL) method based on the Ag(III)-luminol system for the total polyphenol content analysis of tea and substitute tea. Method Through Box–Behnken experimental design, we selected the optimum determination condition. The Ag(III) concentration was 5 × 10–5 mol/L, and the luminol concentration was 3 × 10–7 mol/L (including 0.15 mol/L NaOH). The peristaltic pump is 25 r/min, and the photomultiplier voltage is 600 v. Sample extracts were diluted 100 000 times for the FI-CL assay. Results Under optimal conditions, CL intensities were proportional to total polyphenol content (in terms of gallic acid concentrations) in the range of 0.1∼100 μg/L. The LOD and LOQ were 0.03 μg/L and 0.1 μg/L. The recovery values were in the range of 86.3–111.0% with a RSD of 1.04∼2.62%. The polyphenolic content of 12 teas and 6 substitute teas was determined, and the results of the developed method and Folin–Ciocalteu method were highly correlated (r = 0.9493 for tea and r = 0.8533 for substitute tea). Conclusions The proposed method is better than the Folin–Ciocalteu method in terms of selectivity, sensitivity, and accuracy. It is suitable for the determination of polyphenol content not only in tea, but also in substitute tea. Highlights We developed a new flow-injection analysis method for polyphenolic content determination based on the Ag(III)-luminol chemiluminescence system. It is simple, rapid, sensitive, and accurate. It is suitable for the determination of polyphenols content not only in tea, but also in substitute tea.