DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v25i5.57

Keywords: Green tea; caffeine; catechin; high-performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

Green tea leaves contain antioxidants such as catechin and caffeine, which can speed up metabolism, and helps break down excess fat. However, there are concerns that overconsumption of catechin and caffeine could cause liver toxicity and kidney failure, respectively, to the consumers. This study involved the quantitative analysis of catechin and caffeine in three different brands of green tea teabag and two different brands of green tea capsule using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). All standards were extracted using methanol, dissolved in the mobile phase of deionized water and acetonitrile (30:70 v/v), analysed at 270 nm in triplicates using the HPLC-DAD system. The data interpretation was conducted using standard calibration plot with correlation coefficient for catechin and caffeine of 0.9823 and 0.9856, respectively. Teabag samples were labelled A, B, and C, while capsules samples were labelled D and E. The highest amount of catechin (7274.2679 mg) and caffeine (2253.8581 mg) was found in Sample E. In Sample D, only 1.1561 mg of caffeine was detected and no catechin was detected which probably due to high level of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ). The analysis of catechin and caffeine using HPLC was proven to be reliable, simple, sensitive, and rapid.