[Determination of choleretic constituents in Artemisia scoparia Waldst. et Kit. by TLC densitometry].

In the present paper, a quantitative method for determining the main choleretic components (chlorogenic acid, p-hydroxyacetophenone and scoparone) in Artemisia scoparia Waldst. et Kit. by TLC densitometry was developed. The concentrated methanolic extract was spotted on to a home-made silica gel G plate The plate was developed stepwisely, first with chloroform-ethyl acetateformic acid (2:2:1), then with cyclohexane-ethyl acetate (1:1). The three components were well separated. The spots were scanned with a Shimadzu CS-910 TLC scanner, by reflection mode and linear scanning. The linear relationship between the amount of the three components and peak area was obtained, but it did not go through the origin; so a two-point external standard method was used in the determination. Various samples of different collecting seasons and different parts of the plant were assayed.