HPLC-Profiles of Tocopherols, Sugars, and Organic Acids in Three Medicinal Plants Consumed as Infusions.

Pterospartum tridentatum (L.) Willk, Gomphrena globosa L., and Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf are medicinal plants that require a more detailed chemical characterization, given the importance of their consumption as infusions. Therefore, the individual profiles in tocopherols, free sugars, and organic acids were obtained by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to different detectors (fluorescence, refraction index, and photodiode array, resp.). C. citratus revealed the highest content of α-, and total tocopherols, glucose, sucrose, succinic, and ascorbic acids. P. tridentatum presented the highest fructose and total sugars content. Otherwise, G. globosa showed the highest organic acids concentration. As far as we know, this is the first study reporting the mentioned chemical compounds in G. globosa and C. citratus.