Tea is a widely consumed beverage and has many important physiological properties and potential health benefits. In this study, a novel method based on supercritical fluid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (SFC-MS) was developed to simultaneously determine 11 amino acids in different types of tea (green teas, Oolong tea, black tea and Pu-erh tea). The separation conditions for the analysis of the selected amino acids including the column type, temperature and backpressure as well as the type of additive, were carefully optimized. The best separation of the 11 amino acids was obtained by adding water (5%, v/v) and trifluoroacetic acid (0.4%, v/v) to the organic modifier (methanol). Finally, the developed SFC-MS method was fully validated and successfully applied to the determination of these amino acids in six different tea samples. Good linearity (r ≥ 0.993), precision (RSDs ≤ 2.99%), accuracy (91.95%–107.09%) as well as good sample stability were observed. The limits of detection ranged from 1.42 to 14.69 ng/mL, while the limits of quantification were between 4.53 and 47.0 ng/mL. The results indicate that the contents of the 11 amino acids in the six different tea samples are greatly influenced by the degree of fermentation. The proposed SFC-MS method shows a great potential for further investigation of tea varieties.

茶是一种广泛消费的饮料，具有许多重要的生理特性和潜在的健康益处。在这项研究中，开发了一种基于超临界流体色谱结合质谱（SFC-MS）的新方法，可以同时测定不同类型茶（绿茶，乌龙茶，红茶和普-茶）中的11种氨基酸。精心优化了用于分析所选氨基酸的分离条件，包括柱类型，温度和背压以及添加剂的类型。通过将水（5％，v / v）和三氟乙酸（0.4％，v / v）添加到有机改性剂（甲醇）中，可以最佳分离11种氨基酸。最后，对开发的SFC-MS方法进行了充分验证，并成功地用于测定六种不同茶叶样品中的这些氨基酸。ř  ≥0.993），精密（相对标准偏差≤2.99％），准确性（91.95％-107.09％）以及良好的稳定性样品中观察到。检测限为1.42至14.69 ng / mL，定量限为4.53至47.0 ng / mL。结果表明，六种茶样品中11种氨基酸的含量受发酵程度的影响很大。所提出的SFC-MS方法显示了进一步研究茶品种的巨大潜力。