The determination of Epicatechin and Catechin in Cocoa Powder by HPLC.  Experimental Chemistry II.  Group 3: Addison Rutter; Alaina Van Horn (Reike); Noah Cannoy.   2007.

Abstract:

Catechin and epicatechin are anti-oxidants found in cocoa powder that can reduce the risk of stroke, heart failure, cancer and diabetes. They hypothesis: there will be significantly more catechin and epicatechin in Ghirardelli’s cocoa powder (the most expensive powder) than in the other samples, Nestle and Hershey. For the isolation of catechin and epicatechin, methanol was use to separate the catechin and epicatechin from the cocoa powder. The mass per gram of cocoa powder of both chemicals was determined by extrapolation of total area of the samples using the calibration curves, determined by linear regression. The results show that the only Nestle had any detectable amount of epicatechin, 0.038 mg/g and 0.119 mg/g, and none of the samples had any detectable catechin.