Hollow fibre-based liquid phase microextraction combined with high-performance liquid chromatography for the analysis of flavonoids in Echinophora platyloba DC. and Mentha piperita.

A simple, inexpensive and efficient three phase hollow fibre liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME) technique combined with HPLC was used for the simultaneous determination of flavonoids in Echinophora platyloba DC. and Mentha piperita. Different factors affecting the HF-LPME procedure were investigated and optimised. The optimised extraction conditions were as follows: 1-octanol as an organic solvent, pHdonor=2, pHacceptor=9.75, stirring rate of 1000rpm, extraction time of 80min, without addition of salt. Under these conditions, the enrichment factors ranged between 146 and 311. The values of intra and inter-day relative standard deviations (RSD) were in the range of 3.18-6.00% and 7.25-11.00%, respectively. The limits of detection (LODs) ranged between 0.5 and 7.0ngmL(-1). Among the investigated flavonoids quercetin was found in E. platyloba DC. and luteolin was found in M. piperita. Concentration of quercetin and luteolin was 0.015 and 0.025mgg(-1) respectively.