Catechins and Purine Alkaloids in Leaves Located Differently on a Plant of Various Bitter Teas in Fujian

Leaves from the bitter tea plantsat Anxi, Yunxiao, and Datian in Fujian Province, as well as those from Camellia sinensis ‘FudingDabaicha’ as reference, werecollected for the study. Contents of catechins and purine alkaloids in the springshoots located differently on a plant were determined using high performanceliquid chromatography (HPLC) combined with ultra-high performance liquidchromatography mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The results showed the leaves from the Anxi, Yunxiao, andDatian tea plants contained EGCG3"Me and theacrine. Thetheacrinein Yunxiao and Datian bitter tealeaves exceeded 30 mg·g^-1 renderingthose germplasms in the high-theacrine category. Whereas the high content of total purine alkaloidsof more than 70 mg·g^-1 in the Yunxiao bitter tea leaves making that cultivar in the high-purine alkaloid category. Fuding Dabaicha contained no theacrinebut EGCG3"Me at a concentration of 3.07 mg·g^-1 in the 1^st shoots. The total catechinsincreased initially and followed by a decline with the leaf position on abranch to reach the highest on the 3^rd or the 4^th leaves,while the alkaloids negatively correlated with the order (or, maturity). Thecontents of EGCG3"Meand theacrinein the Anxi and Yunxiao leaves increased withthe order of position, but no apparenttrend found on the Datian bitter tea. EGCG3"Me in the 3^rd and4^th spring shoots in the 3 bitter tea cultivars all exceeded10 mg·g^-1. The results can provide a reference for the excavation ofspecific teagermplasmresourcesin Fujian and the research and utilization of bitter tea resources.