Determination of heracienin and heracienol in Heracieum candicans DC by TLC

A simple TLC method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of heraclenin and heraclenol in the roots of Heracleum candicans D.C. The analytes were separated on silica gel F-254 plates with toluene:ethyl acetate (7:3) and scanned using densitometry at 366 nm. The method was validated in terms of precision, repeatability and accuracy. The linear range for heraclenin was found to be 4 - 10 mu g per spot with correlation coefficient of 0.997 while for heraclenol it was 1-5 mu g per spot with a correlation coefficient of 0.985. The two compounds were quantified in different samples of H. candicans and were found to be present in the range of 1.02 - 1.36% and 0.29 - 0.43% w/w. The method was found to be very simple, accurate, precise and economical and can be used for routine quality control.