High performance liquid chromatography in phytochemical analysis of Eurycoma longifolia

Area of Science:

• Phytochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Pharmacognosy

Background:

• Eurycoma longifolia Jack (Simaroubaceae) is a plant with potential medicinal properties.
• Quassinoids are a class of compounds found in Eurycoma longifolia Jack.
• Accurate quantification of quassinoids is essential for understanding their biological activity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate an analytical method for determining quassinoid content in Eurycoma longifolia Jack.
• To identify and quantify major quassinoids in Eurycoma longifolia Jack samples from various sources.
• To establish the relative abundance of different quassinoids in Eurycoma longifolia Jack roots.

Main Methods:

• High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with Ultraviolet (UV) detection was employed.
• Reference standards of seven quassinoids, including synthesized internal standard, were used.
• Quassinoids were identified using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Mass Spectrometry (MS), UV, and Infrared (IR) spectroscopies.

Main Results:

• The developed HPLC-UV method demonstrated good precision and accuracy for quassinoid quantification.
• Recovery rates for spiked quassinoids ranged from 99.75% to 109.13%.
• Eurycomanone was the most abundant quassinoid in E. longifolia root samples, significantly higher than other identified quassinoids.

Conclusions:

• A reliable HPLC-UV method for quassinoid analysis in Eurycoma longifolia Jack was successfully developed.
• The study provides valuable data on the quassinoid profile of Eurycoma longifolia Jack.
• Eurycomanone is a key quassinoid marker in E. longifolia roots, with significant variations in concentration compared to other quassinoids.