Characterization of phenolic compounds in rooibos tea

Polyphenols present in rooibos, a popular herbal tea from Aspalathus linearis, were isolated in two steps. First, phenolic ingredients were separated by multilayer countercurrent chromatography (MLCCC). Preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was then applied to obtain pure flavonoids. The purity and identity of isolated compounds was confirmed by different NMR experiments, HPLC-diode array detector (DAD), or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis. This strategy proved to be valid to isolate material in up to gram quantities and to verify known and previously not published polyphenol structures. In addition the chemistry of dihydrochalcones and related intermediates was studied. The dihydrochalcone aspalathin was oxidized to the corresponding flavanone-C-glycosides ((R)/(S)-eriodictyol-6-C-beta-D-glucopyranoside and (R)/(S)-eriodictyol-8-C-beta-D-glucopyranoside). Flavanone-6-C-beta-D-glucopyranosides were further degraded to flavones isoorientin and orientin.