TO QUANTIFY THE LUTEOLIN CONTENT FROM THE AERIAL PARTS OF HETEROPOGON CONTORTUS (L.) BEAUV. (SPEAR GRASS) THROUGH HIGH-PERFORMANCE THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to quantify the luteolin content present in the extracts from different aerial plants (leaves, stem, and inflorescence) of Heteropogon contortus through high-performance thin-layer chromatography.Methods: The chromatographic fingerprint analysis of the different plant extracts has been developed using optimized mobile phase toluene: ethyl acetate: formic acid (5:5:0.7 v/v) and the developed plate is derivatized with freshly prepared anisaldehyde-sulfuric acid. Then, the plate is heated at 110–120°C. The plate is scanned for densitometry measurements and to record the overlay spectra at 366 nm absorbance/reflectance wavelength. Quantification of luteolin marker compound in different extracts of H. contortus is estimated using 2–12 ng/spot.Results: The yellow colored bands appearing on the chromatogram confirm the presence of luteolin marker compound in the different plant samples of H. contortus. Further, the presence of the luteolin marker is confirmed by comparing the Rf values (0.21) of the standard and the samples and from densitometry measurements by scanning the plate at 366 nm absorbance/reflectance. Line-to-line overlay spectra are obtained.Conclusion: From this, it is concluded that leaf sample of H. contortus contains maximum amount of luteolin, i.e., 37.13 ± 0.11 mg/g of dry wt. than inflorescence (1.60 ± 0.013 mg/g of dry wt.) and stem (0.53 ± 0.014 mg/g of dry wt.). The leaves are good source of luteolin and can be used as an alternate natural source to synthesize herbal drugs to cure cancer, hypertension, and inflammatory diseases.