Developing a high-performance liquid chromatography fast and accurate method for quantification of silibinin

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Silibinin, a potent antioxidant, exhibits anticancer properties across various cancer types.
• Clinical application of silibinin is hindered by poor solubility, low oral absorption, and rapid hepatic metabolism.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a sensitive High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method for silibinin quantification.
• To enable accurate concentration measurement of silibinin in novel formulations.

Main Methods:

• A reverse-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC) system utilizing a C18 column.
• Mobile phase consisted of methanol (90%) and water (10%).
• Method validation followed established guidelines.

Main Results:

• Silibinin was detected with a retention time of 2.97 minutes.
• The method demonstrated linearity from 10 to 100 µg/ml (R² = 0.996).
• Quantification sensitivity was 10 µg/ml, with accuracy ranging from 88-105.9% and precision (RSD) between 2.7-10.9%.

Conclusions:

• The developed HPLC method is fast, accurate, and sensitive for silibinin quantification.
• This analytical tool supports the development and evaluation of new silibinin formulations.