title: Constituents of the green tea seeds of Camellia sinensis.
abstract: Green tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves are known to contain active ingredients such as catechins and caffeine, and are widely useful materials. Recently, green tea flowers also have been in the spotlight. However, little attention has been paid to the tea seeds. In this work, the constituents of green tea seeds and green tea leaves were compared. Caffeine was found in the seeds, whereas catechins (usually obtained from green tea leaves) were not observed. Next, we investigated the constituents of hexane extracts and methanol extracts of green tea seeds. We found that the hexane extracts contained high amounts of oleic glyceride (79.9%) in addition to linoleic glyceride (20%). We confirmed the structures of these glycerides by NMR spectroscopy and by synthesis from a fatty acid and glycerol. The methanol extract was found to contain naringenin glucosides by mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopic analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-Ohkubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan. toshihas@mail.saitama-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Kensuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akutsu
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kishi
authors.forename: Kouji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
mesh_terms: D028241:Camellia sinensis / Q000737:chemistry*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D044950:Flavanones / Q000737:chemistry; D005989:Glycerides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D006586:Hexanes / Q000737:chemistry; D006868:Hydrolysis; D019787:Linoleic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D019301:Oleic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry; D012997:Solvents
chemical_list: D044950:Flavanones; D005989:Glycerides; D006586:Hexanes; D012997:Solvents; D019301:Oleic Acid; D019787:Linoleic Acid; C005273:naringenin