Isolation, Characterization and Quantification of Civetone from Civet Musk

Abstract

Civet is an important commodity of commerce because of its use in perfume industry. It is also used to some extent in traditional medicine. Civetone is the main component of civet that is responsible for its characteristic odor. The amount of civetone in the musk of civet cat is not determined yet. In this project, rapid, simple and sensitive quantitative thin-layer chromatography method for the quantification of civetone in civet was developed and validated. The method involved extracting samples with dichloromethane by sonication, and analysis by CAMAG TLC scanner 3, after using a civetone dervatizing reagent. The densitometric scanning and analysis was done in absorbance mode at 371 nm. A new method for quantifying civetone in civet was developed in the course of this study. This involved taking a known amount of civet adding to it, a dervatizing agent 2,4-dintrophenylhydrazine, which now raises the absorption maximum to the visible range, thus making quantification work possible. The linear regression analysis data for calibration plots showed good linear relationship with r2=0.999 in the concentration range of 1-5 μg spot-1 with respect to peak area. The method was validated for accuracy, precision and recovery. The civetone value in crude civet samples, quantified by TLC was 0.8-1.2%.