Silica-based monolithic column with evaporative light scattering detector for HPLC analysis of bacosides and apigenin...

A high performance liquid chromatographic method using a silica-based monolithic column coupled with evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-ELSD) was developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of bacosides (bacoside A, bacopaside I, bacoside A(3), bacopaside II, bacopaside X, bacopasaponin C) and apigenin in Bacopa monnieri. The chromatographic resolution was achieved on a Chromolith RP-18 (100x4.6 mm) column with acetonitrile/water (30:70) as mobile phase in isocratic elution at a flow rate of 0.7 mL/min. The drift tube temperature of the ELSD was set to 95 degrees C, and the nitrogen flow rate was 2.0 SLM (standard liter per minute). The calibration curves revealed a good linear relationship (r(2) > 0.9988) within the test ranges. The detection limits (S/N = 3) and the quantification limits (S/N = 10) for the compounds were in the range of 0.54-6.06 and 1.61-18.78 microg/mL, respectively. Satisfactory average recovery was observed in the range of 95.8-99.0%. The method showed good reproducibility for the quantification of these compounds in B. monnieri with intra- and inter-day precision of less than 0.69 and 0.67%, respectively. The validated method was successfully applied to quantify analytes in nine accessions of B. monnieri and thus provides a new basis for overall quality assessment of B. monnieri.