The fruits of Emblica officinalis have been reported to contain low molecular weight hydrolyzable tannins-emblicanin A and emblicanin B, along with pedunculagin and punigluconin. Low levels of β-glucogallin and other mucic acid gallates have also been reported in the aqueous extracts of Emblica officinalis fruits. The fruits of amla have also been considered rich in vitamin C content.
In 2006, Scartezzini et al., proposed a reliable HPLC-DAD method (High performance liquid chromatography and diode array detection) for identification and quantification of ascorbic acid, and further indicated that high antioxidant activity is due to the presence of large percentage of ascorbic acid.
In recent years Raghu et al., 2007 compared ascorbic acid content of the fruits by conventional colorimetric estimation, specific enzymatic method and derivative of dehydroascorbic acid and concluded that 100 g of fresh fruit contains 34-38 mg vitamin C. The presence and quantity of ascorbic acid in amla has, however, remained a debated issue for a long time.