Detection of Sugars in the Tea Leaves by Paper Chromatography

The carbohydrates in the tea leaves were divided into eight fractions. The component sugars of each fraction have been investigated by two-dimensional multiple development paper chromatography. The following sugars were detected as the components: glucose, fructose, sucrose and two unknown oligosaccharides as free sugars; glucose, rhamnose, galactose, and arabinose as the component of glycosides; glucose, galactose, arabinose, xylos e, mannose, rhamnose, galacturonic acid and four unknown uronic acids as the component of water-soluble polysaccharides; ribose and desoxyribose as the component of nucleic acids; and glucose, galactose, arabinose, xylose, fructose, rhamnose, glucuronic acid and another unknown uronic acid as the component of hemicelluloses.