Abstract: A high performance liquid chromatography method that can rapidly detect 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in dark tea was established. PAHs were ultrasonic extracted by acetone and methylene dichloride from tea, and purified by silica gel column and eluted with n-hexane. The results showed that the method was satisfactory when the C₁₈ column(4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm) was used for HPLC, methyl alcohol and ultrapure water was used for mobile phase, the flow rate was set at 0.6 mL·min^-1, the column temperature was set at 30℃, the UV detection wavelength was set at 274 nm, 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can be well separated, the correlation coefficient of 16 PAHs was more than 0.996, detection limit was 0.1-1.0 μg·L^-1, the detection linearity range was 1.0-200.00 μg·L^-1, the recovery of sample with standard was 81.9%-116.5%, the relative standard deviation was less than 2%. The method was characterized by speedily, sensitive, accuracy and low cost, it reduces the requirement for experimental instrument, and can be used for the detection of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in dark tea.

Key words: dark tea, PAHs, HPLC, the linear relationship, recovery