tea polyphenols

Abstract The unprecedented interest in the antioxidant activity of green tea polyphenols (GTP) is due to the appar-ent health benefits of tea drinking and the experimental results with the polyphenols. The results suggest that the galloylated catechins show stronger antioxidant effect than that of nongalloylated catechins and the double bond in C ring also plays an important role in this effect. There are synergic effects between different catechins and the antioxi-dant effect of (+)-epimers is stronger than that of (-)-epimers. The active site to scavenge free radicals mainly locates in p-hydroxyl of phenol in gallic acid and hydroxyl of phenol in the pyrane also shows activity. The large p bond in chro-mane and benzene ring of catechin is the structure base for their antioxidant effects. The prevent effect of GTP against diseases and their redox regulation in cell signal pathway are very important to be studied in the future