Isolation and identification of (—)‐gallocatechin gallate and circular dichroism of green tea flavanols

Partly raceme (—)-gallocatechin gallate was isolated from green tea by counter-current distributins and column chromatography on Sephadex LH-20. The structure was proven by mass spectroscopy of the pertrimethylsilyl ether and by n.m.r. and circular dichroism (c.d.). The compound is probably an artifact produced by heating (—)-epigallocatechin gallate. Circular dichroism curves of several tea flavanols are presented.