Development and validation method for simultaneous quantification of phenolic compounds in natural extracts and...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Pharmacognosy
• Materials Science

Background:

• Sage (Salvia sp.) and savory (Satureja montana) are traditional medicinal plants valued for their antioxidant compounds.
• Ensuring the quality control of herbal formulations is crucial for their therapeutic efficacy.
• Standardized methods are needed to verify the concentration of active compounds in these plant extracts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple and effective high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method.
• To simultaneously quantify quercetin and rosmarinic acid.
• To analyze these compounds in pure form, natural extracts (sage and savory), and chitosan nanoparticle formulations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a reversed-phase C18 column for chromatographic separation.
• Employed a gradient elution with a mobile phase of methanol:formic acid:water (92.5:2.5:5 v/v).
• Operated at a flow rate of 0.75 mL/min and detected analytes at 280 nm.

Main Results:

• The developed HPLC method demonstrated high specificity and linearity (R² = 1.00) within the 0.05-1 mg/mL range.
• The method exhibited excellent intraday and interday precision and accuracy, with a recovery rate of 90.5 ± 0.6%.
• The method proved robust against variations in equipment conditions.

Conclusions:

• The established HPLC method is effective for characterizing quercetin and rosmarinic acid in both natural extracts and chitosan nanoparticles.
• This analytical approach enables the determination of loading capacity and association efficiency.
• The method facilitates the assessment of in vitro release profiles for nanoparticle-based delivery systems.