To investigate the effect of light intensity and temperature on the biosynthesis and accumulation of quality-related metabolites, field grown tea plants were shaded by Black Net and Nano-insulating Film (with additional 2–4°C cooling effect) with un-shaded plants as a control. Young shoots were subjected to UPLC-Q-TOF MS followed by multivariate statistical analysis. Most flavonoid metabolites (mainly flavan-3-ols, flavonols and their glycosides) decreased significantly in the shading treatments, while the contents of chlorophyll, β-carotene, neoxanthin and free amino acids, caffeine, benzoic acid derivatives and phenylpropanoids increased. Comparison between two shading treatments indicated that the lower temperature under Nano shading decreased flavonols and their glycosides but increased accumulation of flavan-3-ols and proanthocyanidins. The comparison also showed a greater effect of temperature on galloylation of catechins than light intensity. Taken together, there might be competition for substrates between the up- and down-stream branches of the phenylpropanoid/flavonoid pathway, which was influenced by light intensity and temperature.

The selective hydrogenation of halogenated nitrobenzene (HNB) has been a great important chemical reaction in the fine chemical productions. In this study, the effect of metal particle size on the selective hydrogenation of HNB over Pd/C catalysts has been extensively investigated through the combination of theoretical (density functional theory calculations, DFT) and experimental methods. DFT calculations showed that the reaction barriers for dechlorination strongly depend on the type of reaction sites (terrace or edge), while the hydrogenation reaction barriers are nearly the same on different sites, which indicates that Pd nanoparticle size significantly affects the catalyst selectivity. Moreover, Pd nanoparticles with different sizes (from 2.1 to 30 nm) supported on activated carbon were synthesized using the methods developed by our group. In a 500 mL reactor, the selectivity is over 99.90% when the Pd nanoparticles are bigger than 25 nm. Finally, the industrial applications of the proposed catalyst were evaluated in several pilot factories. This study provides useful information on controlling the selectivity of other similar reactions catalyzed by noble-metal nanocatalysts.

The sensory quality of green tea changes greatly within a single spring season, but the mechanism is not clearly elucidated. Young shoots of the early, middle, and late spring season were subjected to metabolite profiling using gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF/MS) and ultraperformance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-TOF/MS. Multivariate analyses revealed largely different metabolite phenotypes in young shoots among different periods. The contents of amino acids decreased, whereas carbohydrates, flavonoids and their glycosides, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and photorespiration pathways were strongly reinforced in the late spring season, which were well reflected in the sensory quality of made teas. Metabolomic analyses further demonstrated distinct variations of metabolite phenotypes in mature leaves. The results suggested that the fluctuation of green tea quality in the spring season was caused by changes of metabolite phenotypes in young shoots, which was likely related to the remobilization of carbon and nitrogen reserves from mature leaves.

BackgroundNitrogen (N) plays an important role in the formation of tea quality-related compounds, like amino acids and flavor/aroma origin compounds. Lipids, which have been reported to be affected by N deficiency, are precursors to the generation of flavor/aroma origin compounds in tea plant. However, there is no literature about the lipid profiles of tea plant affected by N fertilization. Hence, we hypothesize that the biosynthesis of flavor-related compounds in tea was affected by N through its regulation of lipid metabolism.ResultsIn this study, mature leaves and new shoots of tea plant grown under three N levels at the rates of 0, 285 and 474 kg/ha were applied for ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS) based lipidomic analysis. Totally, 178 lipid species were identified. The results showed that the composition of lipid compounds in mature leaves and new shoots varied dramatically, which was also affected by N levels. The higher content of the storage lipid TAG and higher carbon (C)/N ratio in mature leaves than that of new shoots in tea plants grown under low N level (0 kg/ha) suggested that tea plants could remobilize the C stored in TAG to maintain their C/N balance and help to improve the quality of tea. N fertilization resulted in a higher content of the compounds 36:6 MGDG and 36:6 DGDG. Since these compounds contain linolenic acid (18:3), a precursor to the formation of aroma origin compounds, we suggested their increase could contribute to the quality of tea.ConclusionsTaken together, the present work indicated that appropriate application of N fertilizer could balance the lipid metabolism and the formation of flavor/aroma origin compounds, which help to improve the quality of tea. Moreover, excess N fertilization might deteriorate the aroma quality of made tea due to increases of precursors leading to grassy odor.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12870-017-1111-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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BackgroundAs the predominant secondary metabolic pathway in tea plants, flavonoid biosynthesis increases with increasing temperature and illumination. However, the concentration of most flavonoids decreases greatly in light-sensitive tea leaves when they are exposed to light, which further improves tea quality. To reveal the metabolism and potential functions of flavonoids in tea leaves, a natural light-sensitive tea mutant (Huangjinya) cultivated under different light conditions was subjected to metabolomics analysis.ResultsThe results showed that chlorotic tea leaves accumulated large amounts of flavonoids with ortho-dihydroxylated B-rings (e.g., catechin gallate, quercetin and its glycosides etc.), whereas total flavonoids (e.g., myricetrin glycoside, epigallocatechin gallate etc.) were considerably reduced, suggesting that the flavonoid components generated from different metabolic branches played different roles in tea leaves. Furthermore, the intracellular localization of flavonoids and the expression pattern of genes involved in secondary metabolic pathways indicate a potential photoprotective function of dihydroxylated flavonoids in light-sensitive tea leaves.ConclusionsOur results suggest that reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and the antioxidation effects of flavonoids help chlorotic tea plants survive under high light stress, providing new evidence to clarify the functional roles of flavonoids, which accumulate to high levels in tea plants. Moreover, flavonoids with ortho-dihydroxylated B-rings played a greater role in photo-protection to improve the acclimatization of tea plants.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-017-1012-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanol under mild conditions (∼340 K) was achieved over Raney Ni catalyst in the aqueous phase. The adsorption-desorption properties of the reactants (phenol and H 2 ) and the products (cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol) on the Raney Ni catalyst are different in the aqueous phase and the organic phase. The hydrogenation rate of phenol is improved because the Raney Ni catalyst adsorbs more H 2 and phenol in water than in methanol. Meanwhile, the higher uptakes of H 2 and the lower desorption rates for cyclohexanone on the Raney Ni catalyst in the aqueous system result in the further hydrogenation of cyclohexanone to cyclohexanol.