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An aqueous solution of 2,3-cis gallate type catechin (-)-epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCg) and caffeine afforded a precipitate of Creaming-down Phenomenon, which crystallized slowly for about three months to give a colorless block crystal. By X-ray crystallographic analysis, the crystal was determined to be a 2 : 2 complex of EGCg and caffeine, in which caffeine molecules were captured in a hydrophobic space formed with three aromatic A, B, and B' rings of EGCg. It was considered that the solubility of the 2 : 2 complex in water rapidly decreased and the 2 : 2 complex precipitated from aqueous solution. The hydrophobic spaces of EGCg captured a variety of heterocyclic compounds, and the molecular capture abilities of heterocyclic compounds using EGCg from the aqueous solutions were evaluated. Since the C ring of EGCg has two chiral carbon atoms, C 2 and C 3 , the hydrophobic space of EGCg was a chiral space. EGCg captured diketopiperazine cyclo(Pro-Xxx) (Xxx=Phe, Tyr) and pharmaceuticals with a xanthine skeleton, proxyphylline and diprophylline, in the hydrophobic space, and recognized their chirality.

Tannins are a group of polyphenols that possess the ability to precipitate proteins, causing an undesirable astringent taste by interacting with salivary peptides. This interaction deactivates the digestive enzymes; therefore, tannins are considered as plant defense substances. The health benefits of tannins and related polyphenols in foods and beverages have been demonstrated by biological and epidemiological studies; however, their metabolism in living plants and the chemical changes observed during processing of foods and medicinal herbs raises some questions. This review summarizes our studies concerning dynamic changes observed in tannins. Ellagitannins present in the young leaves of Camellia japonica and Quercus glauca undergo oxidative degradation as the leaves mature. Similar oxidative degradation is also observed in whiskey when it is kept for aging in oak barrels, and in decaying wood caused by fungi in natural forests. In contrast, ellagitannins have been observed to undergo reduction in the leaves of Carpinus, Castanopsis, and Triadica species as the leaves mature. This phenomenon of reductive metabolism in leaves enabled us to propose a new biosynthetic pathway for the most fundamental ellagitannin acyl groups, which was also supported by biomimetic synthetic studies. Polyphenols undergo dynamic changes during the process of food processing. Catechin in tea leaves undergo oxidation upon mechanical crushing to generate black tea polyphenols. Though detailed production mechanisms of catechin dimers have been elucidated, structures of thearubigins (TRs), which are complex mixtures of oligomers, remain ambiguous. Our recent studies suggested that catechin B-ring quinones couple with catechin A-rings during the process of oligomerization.

In recent years, plant polyphenols have attracted great attention due to their wide range of biological activities. Certain kinds of polyphenols have complex structures; therefore, it is difficult to elucidate their total structure, including stereochemistry. In this study, we reinvestigated the stereostructures of two major C-glycosidic ellagitannins contained in Quercus plants, vescalagin and castalagin, and revised their stereostructures based on theoretical calculations of spectroscopic data. We also determined the structures of quercusnins A and B, isolated from the sapwood of Quercus crispula, based on theoretical calculations of NMR data. The oxidation mechanism of polyphenols has not been entirely elucidated. Therefore, we have also studied the oxidation mechanism of tea catechins during black tea production. Our investigation of the oxidation mechanism of black tea pigment theaflavins revealed that the difference in the position of the galloyl ester affords different oxidation products of theaflavins. In addition, oxidation products of pyrogallol-type catechins could be classified into three types-dehydrotheasinensins, theacitrins, and proepitheaflagallins; their detailed production and degradation mechanisms were also examined.

This article describes the development of various probes and immunogens for chemical-biological investigations of food flavonoids. We accomplished a large (gram)-scale asymmetric synthesis of a key intermediate, 5-aminopentyl deoxy epigallocatechin-3-gallate (APDOEGCg; 3), an analogue of green tea polyphenol EGCg, in which the key step was cationic cyclization utilizing neighboring group participation of the gallate carbonyl group. The synthetic APDOEGCg (3) was efficiently converted to a fluorescent probe 18 and an immunogen 19 by utilizing the high reactivity of the amine functional group. We confirmed the usefulness of these probes for imaging studies and the generation of antibodies, respectively. We also describe the efficient synthesis of a positron emission tomography (PET) probe [ 11 C]20 by incorporation of 11 C into EGCg (1), for which synthetic 4″-Me-EGCg (20) was utilized as an authentic sample. Our synthetic strategy was also applied for the practical synthesis of nobiletin (21), a polymethoxylated flavone from citrus. Synthetic nobiletin was readily converted to various probes by selective demethylation and incorporation of fluorescein, biotin or 11 C. These probes should be useful for a range of biological applications. Detailed examination of the mechanisms and further applications are in progress.

Two crystals of a complex of (-)-gallocatechin-3-O-gallate (GCg) with caffeine and crystals of the complexes of (+)-catechin (CA) and (-)-catechin-3-O-gallate (Cg) with caffeine were prepared, and their stereochemical structures and intermolecular interactions were determined in X-ray crystallographic analysis. GCg formed 1:2 and 2:2 complexes with caffeine, and π-π interactions formed between the aromatic rings of GCg and caffeine in both complexes. In addition, CA of nongalloylated catechins formed a 1:1 complex with caffeine through intermolecular hydrogen bonds, whereas Cg of galloylated catechins formed a 1:2 complex with caffeine, which was formed by face-to-face and offset π-π interactions and intermolecular hydrogen bonds.

The influence of the presence of a galloyl group in catechin on complexation with risperidone (RISP) was examined using (--)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) and (--)-epigallocatechin (EGC), which are present in green tea as tea catechins. By quantitative analysis using HPLC, it was found that EGCg formed an insoluble complex with RISP for concentration dependence, whereas EGC did not. The large contribution of the galloyl group of catechin to form an insoluble complex with RISP was recognized in this study. In a molecular modeling study, it was found that the EGCg-R complex (EGCg with RISP) formed three hydrogen bonds between the hydroxyl groups of EGCg and the two N atoms and an O atom of RISP. The hydrogen bond between the hydroxyl group of the galloyl ring in EGCg and the N atom of the piperidine ring in RISP stabilized EGCg-R more energetically. The EGC-R complex (EGC with RISP) also formed three hydrogen bonds, but the N atom of the piperidine ring in RISP did not participate in hydrogen bond formation. According to the calculation using the COSMO-RS method, the water solubility of the EGCg-R complex was 1/26 that of the EGC-R complex. Therefore, the EGCg-R complex was difficult to dissolve in water. In the (1)H-NMR spectra of RISP in DMSO-d(6), although chemical shifts of protons near the N atom on the piperidine ring moved downfield on the addition of EGCg, no change in chemical shifts of these protons was observed on the addition of EGC. Therefore, based on these results, the galloyl group of EGCg contributes to the formation of an insoluble complex between tea catechin and RISP, and this insoluble complex is stabilized by the hydrogen bond between the hydroxyl group of the galloyl ring in EGCg and the N atom of the piperidine ring in RISP.

The mechanism of complexation between risperidone (RISP) and (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) was clarified by ¹H-NMR and molecular modeling studies. RISP and EGCg formed an insoluble complex with a 1 : 1 stoichiometry in aqueous solution. In the ¹H-NMR spectra of RISP in DMSO-d₆, the chemical shifts of protons neighboring the N atom on the piperizine ring clearly moved downfield upon formation of the complex. In the molecular modeling study, the ¹H-chemical shifts for nine optimized structures of the complex were calculated to compare them with those of the experimental results. Only one conformer with the second minimum energy for the complex supported the downfield shifts of RISP protons. It was found from the structure of the complex that the two hydrogen bonds between hydroxyl groups of the galloyl ring in EGCg and N atoms in RISP, one of which was on the piperizine ring, were formed to stabilize the complex.

Recent biological and pharmacological studies strongly suggested that plant polyphenols in foods, beverages and crude drugs have various health benefits. However, still there are chemically uncharacterized polyphenols, especially those with large molecular weights. The typical example is black tea polyphenols. Four tea catechins of fresh tea leaves are enzymatically oxidized in tea fermentation process of black tea manufacture to give a complex mixture of the oxidation products. Despite many efforts since 1950's, major part of the black tea polyphenols has not been clarified yet. We have investigated the oxidation mechanism of each catechin by employing a newly developed in vitro model fermentation system. The oxidation was initiated by enzymatic dehydrogenation of catechins, and subsequent intermolecular quinone-phenol coupling reactions followed by cascade-type degradation of the unstable products resulted in the formation of complex black tea polyphenols. Besides black tea polyphenols, this review introduces the chemistry of insolubilization of persimmon proanthocyanidins, wood polyphenols in connection with whisky polyphenols, and co-polymerization of cinnamaldehyde and proanthocyanidins in cinnamon bark.

The botulinum neurotoxin produced by Clostridium botulinum exhibits the strongest neurotoxicity, and causes botulism in mammals. We have found an inactivator for clostridial neurotoxins in black tea extract (thearubigin fraction) as a natural foodstuff. In this study, we have isolated and identified the inactivators. The activity against the neuromuscular blocking action of botulinus neurotoxin type A was examined in mouse phrenic nerve diaphram preparation. The purification procedure of the inactivators was as follows. Tea was extracted with aqueous acetone, and then filtrated and lyophilized. It was also extracted with n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butylalchol and water, so the activity of the antidote was recognized to be in the n-butylalchol layer (named the thearubigin fraction). A two-step reversed phase HPLC was developed for the thearubigin fraction. Three flavonoids were found to have the major activity. The structural elucidation of the compounds by means of NMR spectrascopy revealed, kaempfenol-3-O-[glc-(6-1)-rha-(3-1)-glc];keampfetrin, kaempferol-3-O-[glc-(6-1)-rha];nicotiflorin and quercetin glycoside.

Four flavonoid compounds, avicularin (1), hyperin (2), quercitrin (3), taxillusin (4), were isolated from leaves of Taxillus kaempferi, and three catechin compounds, (+)-catechin (6), procyanidin B-1 (7), procyanidin B-3 (8), showing a reddish purple color on the reaction with Ehrlich reagent, were also isolated from the stems. Each of these seven isolated compounds were identified by comparing the spectral data with those of the references. Compound 8 was examined to substantiate the stereochemical configurations of conformer, a and b in the detailed 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectrum using the nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) difference spectroscopy and spin decoupling experiment in the acetone-d6 solution.