ZHICHENG BIO
How to buy bulk dihydromyricetin: grades, source and the specification most buyers miss
The grade ladder, vine tea sourcing, China's 2026 approval, solubility, and the specification line most buyers never write.
The short answer
Bulk dihydromyricetin (DHM, ampelopsin; CAS 27200-12-0) trades in a grade ladder of roughly 20%, 50%, 80% and 98%, extracted from vine tea leaf — Nekemias grossedentata, formerly Ampelopsis grossedentata. The commercial specification is content by achiral HPLC, which cannot describe stereochemistry, and the solubility constraint of roughly 0.2 mg/mL in water at 25 °C decides most of what a formulator can do with it. Zhicheng Bio supplies the 98% grade and the ≥85% vine tea polyphenol grade from Shanghai, and will report optical purity on request.
- Grades in trade
- Commonly 20% (water-soluble), 50%, 80% and 98%; white to off-white powder; typically 1 kg bags and 25 kg drums
- Botanical source
- Vine tea leaf, Nekemias grossedentata (Hand.-Mazz.) J. Wen & Z. L. Nie, formerly named Ampelopsis grossedentata — known regionally as 藤茶 or 莓茶
- Raw material strength
- Reported total flavonoid content of Laifeng vine tea averages above 20% with a maximum around 43% — unusually rich, which is why this material can reach 98% at a workable cost
- Regulatory turn, 2026
- China's Announcement No. 5 of 2026 approved vine tea leaf polyphenols as a new food raw material at ≥85% polyphenols and ≤470 mg/day. Before that, the 2013 approval permitted the leaf only as an infusion — thirteen years in which the material could not enter formulated food
- Solubility
- Roughly 0.2 mg/mL in water at 25 °C. Published solubilisation routes include β-cyclodextrin (about 14×), HP-β-cyclodextrin (10–30×), PVP K30 solid dispersions, self-emulsifying systems (about 130×) and an O/W microemulsion reported up to 875×
- The line most buyers never write
- Optical purity. See why “98% by HPLC” does not describe DHM quality
The grade ladder, and picking the right rung
DHM is unusual among plant actives in that the raw material is genuinely rich. Vine tea leaf carries total flavonoids averaging above 20%, with reported maxima around 43%, and DHM is the dominant one. That is why a 98% grade exists at a commercially sane price, where for many botanical actives it would not.
It also means the lower rungs are real products rather than diluted ones. A 20% water-soluble grade is a different material from 98% powder with excipient added — it carries the co-occurring polyphenols of the leaf and dissolves in a way the pure compound does not. If you are building a beverage, the low grade may be the correct choice, and buying 98% and then fighting its solubility may be the expensive mistake.
Zhicheng Bio supplies the 98% grade and the ≥85% vine tea leaf polyphenol grade. Which one you should specify follows from your dose form and your regulatory route, not from which number is larger.
What changed in 2026, and why it matters to a formulator
The regulatory history here is the most consequential thing that has happened to this ingredient. China approved vine tea leaf as a new food raw material in 2013, but the approval permitted one thing only: consumption as an infusion, with no daily limit set. For thirteen years, that confined a flavonoid-rich material to the tea aisle — it could not legally enter formulated food.
Announcement No. 5 of 2026 changed the category. Vine tea leaf polyphenols — specified as ≥85% polyphenols including DHM, with a limit of 470 mg per day, produced by ethanol extraction, decolourisation, concentration, filtration and drying — are now a new food raw material in their own right. That opens formulated applications that were closed for over a decade.
Two things follow for a buyer. First, if your product is for the Chinese market, the ≥85% polyphenol grade now has a defined regulatory identity and a defined daily limit, and it is worth checking whether your formulation fits inside the approved specification rather than assuming the 98% isolate is the safer choice. Second, note what the approved specification measures: polyphenol content by weight. It sets no stereochemical requirement at all.
Solubility is the constraint that decides your dose form
DHM dissolves in water at roughly 0.2 mg/mL at 25 °C. That single number rules out a large class of dose forms for the pure compound and explains why the lower, polyphenol-rich grades exist.
The published solubilisation literature is unusually well developed. β-cyclodextrin complexation has been reported at about 14-fold improvement, HP-β-cyclodextrin at 10–30-fold, PVP K30 solid dispersions, self-emulsifying systems at about 130-fold — with the notable additional finding of about 0.4% degradation over 30 days against 55.8% for an ethanol solution — and an oil-in-water microemulsion reported to take 0.2 mg/mL up to 175.2 mg/mL, an 875-fold increase.
None of these is sitting on a shelf as a commercial DHM product. For a formulator, that is the opening: the chemistry is published, the constraint is well characterised, and nobody has commercialised the answer.
The specification questions to put to a supplier
Ask which grade you are being quoted, and against what content method. Ask for the botanical identity in the current accepted name as well as the older one, because both appear in trade documents. Ask whether the material is intended to satisfy the 2026 new-food-material specification if China is your market. Ask for the residual solvent profile, since ethanol extraction is the officially described route. Ask for heavy metals against your destination market's limits, and for microbiology.
Then ask the question almost nobody asks: what is the enantiomeric ratio, and by what method. The full argument is in the optical purity guide, but the short version is that racemisation accelerates above 80 °C, is promoted by the Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ in ordinary process water, and is worsened above pH 9 — while the standard industrial route uses 90 °C extraction and slow cooling crystallisation above 85 °C. The attribute is destroyed during manufacture, so it has to be specified before manufacture, not tested for afterwards.
It is also worth agreeing process-side limits — maximum temperature, water quality, pH ceiling — for the same reason.
Buying from Zhicheng Bio
Zhicheng Bio supplies bulk dihydromyricetin at 98% by HPLC and vine tea leaf polyphenols at ≥85% from Shanghai, China, and will report enantiomeric ratio by chiral HPLC or SFC together with specific optical rotation on the batch certificate where a buyer specifies it. No list price is published for these grades; they are quoted per project.
Identity data, specification structure, analytical notes, regulatory status by market and the reference list are on the dihydromyricetin product page. To start a quotation, send the grade, the quantity, the destination country and the Incoterm you want quoted.
Frequently asked
What grades of dihydromyricetin are available in bulk?
The trade ladder is commonly 20% (water-soluble), 50%, 80% and 98%, supplied as a white to off-white powder in 1 kg bags or 25 kg drums. Zhicheng Bio supplies the 98% grade and a vine tea leaf polyphenol grade at ≥85%. The lower grades are not diluted 98% material — they carry the leaf's co-occurring polyphenols and behave differently in solution.
What plant does DHM come from?
Vine tea leaf, Nekemias grossedentata (Hand.-Mazz.) J. Wen & Z. L. Nie, formerly named Ampelopsis grossedentata, known regionally in China as 藤茶 or 莓茶. Reported total flavonoid content of the leaf averages above 20% with maxima around 43%, which is why a 98% isolate is commercially feasible.
Can dihydromyricetin be used in formulated food in China?
Since China's Announcement No. 5 of 2026, vine tea leaf polyphenols are approved as a new food raw material at ≥85% polyphenols with a limit of 470 mg per day. The earlier 2013 approval covered the leaf for infusion only, with no daily limit set, which for thirteen years kept the material out of formulated food. Confirm the current text and your specific application against the announcement itself before relying on it.
How soluble is DHM in water?
Roughly 0.2 mg/mL at 25 °C, which constrains most dose forms for the pure compound. Published solubilisation approaches include β-cyclodextrin at about 14-fold, HP-β-cyclodextrin at 10–30-fold, PVP K30 solid dispersions, self-emulsifying systems at about 130-fold, and an O/W microemulsion reported to reach 175.2 mg/mL. None is currently sold as a finished commercial DHM ingredient.
This page describes raw-material sourcing and specification. It is not a health claim and not medical advice. Last updated 2026-07-31.