Gallic acid is often used as the quantitative standards in Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetric method for determination of total polyphenols. The evaluation of total polyphenol content is equivalent to the relative content of gallic acid. The effects of sodium carbonate on total polyphenol analysis with Folin-Ciocalteu reagent were studied.The results showed that gallic acid is unstable in alkaline solution. When 20% sodium carbonate was added before the addition of Folin-Ciocalteu reagent in the assay, an irreversible compound had been produced. With the alteration of reaction conditions, the electric transferring capacity of Folin-Ciocalteu reagent was decreased during its reduction. Therefore, the quantitative analyses of total polyphenols and calibration of using gallic acid as standards were also shown to be affected significantly.