Quantification of sesquiterpene lactones in Parthenium hyterophorous by normal-phase HPLC.

This paper describes the development of a normal-phase liquid chromatography ultraviolet-diode array detection method for the simultaneous quantification of parthenin and coronopilin in the leaves and flowers of Parthenium hysterophorous. The compounds were analyzed on a Merck Si60 silica column (5 µm, 250 × 4 mm) using an isocratic 15:85 mixture of isopropyl alcohol and hexane. The calibration curves resulting from the reference compounds in the concentration range of 200-2,000 ng exhibited acceptable linearity (r > 0.999). The method was developed to study the levels of parthenin and coronopilin in the leaves and flowers of P. hysterophorous collected during different seasons, and the method was validated by analyzing the spiked samples.