FT-IR measurement of tagitinin C after solvent extraction from Tithonia diversifolia

Tagitinin C, an antiplasmodial compound, identified as one major compound of the subtropical medicinal plant, Tithonia diversifolia, was determined by FT-IR spectroscopy method. The crude ether extracts from aerial parts of the plant were evaporated to dryness and re-dissolved in tetrachloroethylene (C(2)Cl(4)) before analysis. The magnitude of the absorbance of the very specific CO stretching vibration (nu(CO)) at 1664.8cm(-1) was exploited in order to quantify tagitinin C. The determination coefficient (r(2)) of the calibration scale was 0.9994, the detection limit was lower than 3mugml(-1) and the quantification limit was lower than 10mugml(-1). Recovery values from 100.5 to 101.7% were found for spiked concentration levels from 19.91 to 89.95mugml(-1). The main characteristics of the curves obtained from the calibration standards and from the standard addition technique were not statistically different (Student t-test) suggesting that matrix effects were negligible. The results obtained for the determination of tagitinin C in the crude ether extract from aerial parts of T. diversifolia by LC and FT-IR spectroscopic method agreed well: 0.76+/-0.02 and 0.773+/-0.009, of tagitinin C in dried plant respectively.