Simultaneous Determination of Caffeine, Catechin, Epicatechin, Chlorogenic and Caffeic Acid in Cola nitida Dried Nuts from Côte d’Ivoire Using HPLC

Aims: A simple high performance liquid chromatographic analysis (HPLC) for Cola nitida caffeine, catechin, epicatechin, chlorogenic and caffeic acid with a gradient system elution system was developed.

Study Design: Mature kola seeds were collected in October 2014-February 2015 in South of Côte d’Ivoire. Harvested kola nuts were transferred to the laboratory until used in the experiments.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out during the year 2016 at European institute of membranes, France.

Methodology: Kola nuts was extracted from mature kola seeds (Cola nitida Schott & Endl.) and the extract was obtained by infusion of kola nut powder in water-ethanol mixture at room temperature. The compounds were separated by of a C18 reversed-phase column with a gradient elution system of binary phase consisted of A (95/5, water-H2O/methanol-MeOH + 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid-TFA) and B (100% acetonitrile-ACN + 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid-TFA) and an UV detector. All of these compounds were separated within 70 min. The validity of this method was confirmed by their quantitative measurement in kola samples.

Results: The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) of these compounds were within the range of 0.098 to 0.47 µg/mL and 0.3 to 1.45 µg/mL, respectively. All the analyses exhibited good linearity with correlations coefficients above 0.9974 and the accuracies for the analyses were 97 – 104%.

Conclusion: Using this analytical method, the bioactive compounds of kola nuts have been determined with satisfactory. The presence of these compounds (caffeine, catechin, epicatechin, cholrogenic acid and caffeic acid) in the extract justifies the industrial interest of kola nuts.