DEVELOPMENT OF VALIDATED HIGH-PERFORMANCE THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY DENSITOMETRIC METHOD FOR QUANTIFICATION OF QUERCETIN IN CAPPARIS DECIDUA EDGEW. STEM

Capparis decidua Edgew. (Capparidaceae) is an important medicinal plant widely used in Ayurveda as anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic, hepatoprotective, diuretic, digestive, laxative, analgesic and anti-asthmatic. In this study, a sensitive and reliable high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method has been developed for the quantification of a flavonol quercetin as an important marker in C. decidua stem. Ethyl acetate extract prepared from hydrolyzed alcoholic extract was applied on precoated silica gel G 60F254 plate and the plate was developed using chloroform-methanol-formic acid (9:1:0.6, v/v/v) as the mobile phase. The detection and quantification was carried out by densitometric scanning at 366 nm. The system was found to provide good resolution of quercetin from other constituents present in C. decidua stem. The method was validated for linearity, inter-day and intra-day precision, repeatability, accuracy, specificity, limit of detection and limit of quantification. The linear regression analysis data for the calibration plots showed a good linear relationship (r² = 0.995) in the concentration range of 500-1500 ng. The accuracy of the method was confirmed from recovery studies conducted at different levels using the standard addition method. The developed method was found to be simple, precise, sensitive, accurate and reproducible. The study is the first report for estimation of quercetin in C. decidua stem by HPTLC method and would serve as a suitable tool for routine analysis and authentication of C. decidua.