Development and validation of an HPTLC method for simultaneous quantitation of isoorientin, isovitexin, orientin, and vitexin in bamboo-leaf flavonoids

A simple HPTLC method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of isoorientin, isovitexin, orientin, and vitexin, both pure and in commercial samples of bamboo-leaf flavonoids. The flavone C-glycosides, including isoorientin, isovitexin, orientin, and vitexin, were extracted from bamboo-leaf flavonoids with methanol and chromatographed on silica gel 60 plates in an automatic developing chamber with tetrahydrofuran-toluene-formic acid-water (16 + 8 + 2 + 1, v/v/v/v) mobile phase. Quantitation was obtained with UV detection at 350 nm. Polynomial calibration plots were constructed in the concentration range 200-1200 ng/zone for isoorientin, 100-600 ng/zone for isovitexin, 160-960 ng/zone for orientin, and 30-360 ng/zone for vitexin with good correlation coefficients (r > or = 0.9995). The method was validated for precision (interday and intraday), repeatability, and accuracy. Accuracy of the method was evaluated by a recovery study conducted at three different levels, and the average recovery was found to be 93.95% for isoorientin, 95.30% for isovitexin, 99.79% for orientin, and 100.46% for vitexin. The proposed HPTLC method for estimation of isoorientin, isovitexin, orientin, and vitexin was found to be simple, precise, specific, and accurate and can be used for manufacturing QC of bamboo-leaf flavonoids or for governmental regulatory purposes.