Buletin USAMV-CN, 62/2006 (338-342) ISSN 1454-2382 EVALUATION OF RESIDUE COMPOSITION IN CATECHIN COMPOUNDS FROM WINE INDUSTRY THROUGH SPECTOMETRIC AND CROMATHOGRAPHIC METHODS Preda DumitriŃa, Loredana Leopold, Florica Ranga, Florinela Fetea, Nastasia Pop, Carmen Socaciu University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Manastur 3-5, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, oliviapreda@gmail.com Keywords: catechins, waste, HPLC, UV-VIS Abstract: Flavan-3-ols are the result of secondary plant metabolism, being a subclass of flavonoids, also distributed in grapes. The most important property of these compounds is the antioxidant activity, due to their – OH groups and double bonds. Flavan-3-ols have the generic name “catechins”. There are known eight types of catechin structures: catechin (C), catechin gallate (Cg), gallocatechin (GC), gallocatechin gallate (GCg), epicatechin (EC), epigalocatechin (EGC), epigalocatechingalate (EGCg). The aim of this study is the identification and isolation of some flavan-3-ols from different varieties of romanian grapes (Vitis vinifera) through HPLC High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), and UV- VIS analysis. The identification of catechins was made from different varieties of Romanian grapes. The total content of catechins is determined by UV-VIS analyses. INTRODUCTION In agricultural areas, crops such as grapes generate huge amounts of byproducts. In Europe alone 112 million tons of grapes were processed by the wine industry in 1998. An estimated 13% (14.5 million tons) of this amount corresponded to the byproduct after pressing, consisting mainly of skins and seeds. Grape skins and seeds are rich sources of health-promoting polyphenols, including flavan-3-ols of different degrees of polymerization known as proanthocyanidins. Oligomeri proanthocyanidins, as well as other polyphenols, are potent free radical scavengers useful as preventative agents against cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and premature aging. [1] Residues such as peels and seeds that result from fruit juice production may contain substantial amounts of valuable natural antioxidants After the grape is crushed, the juice is used to make wine and the solid grape residues, or pomace, are typically waste. Valuable grape sugar and other grape components such as phenolic antioxidants and red pigments remain in the pomace and can be recovered. This is very important because grape skins and seeds are rich sources of health- promoting polyphenols, including flavan-3-ols. Grape seeds contain lipid, protein, carbohydrates, and 5-8% polyphenols depending on the variety. Polyphenols in grape seeds