Determination of gallic acid in Phyllanthus emblica Linn. dried fruit powder by HPTLC.

OBJECTIVE

Emblica (Phyllanthus emblica L.), an euphorbiaceous plant, is widely distributed in subtropical and tropical areas of India, China and Indonesia. The fruits possess antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic properties. In the current article a new, simple, sensitive, selective, precise, and robust high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method was developed and validated for the determination of gallic acid in dried fruit powder of Phyllanthus emblica.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The quantitative determination of gallic acid was performed on TLC aluminium plates pre-coated with silica gel 60F-254 as the stationary phase. The linear ascending development was carried out in a twin trough glass chamber saturated with a mobile phase consisting of toluene: ethyl acetate: formic acid: methanol (3:3:0.8:0.2) at room temperature (25 ± 2°C). Camag TLC scanner III was used for spectrodensitometric scanning and analysis, in the absorbance mode, at 278 nm.

RESULTS

The linear regression analysis data for the calibration plots showed good linear relationship with r(2) = 0.99977 in the concentration range of 40 - 240 ng spot-1, with respect to the peak area. According to the guidelines of the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH), the method was validated for precision, accuracy, and recovery.

CONCLUSION

Statistical analysis of the data showed that the method was reproducible and selective for the estimation of gallic acid.