RP–LC Simultaneous Determination of Aconitine,Solanine and Piperine in an Ayurvedic Medicine

By optimizing the extraction, separation and analytical conditions, a reliable, rapid, simple and accurate liquid chromatography method with UV detection was developed for the simultaneous quantitative determination of aconitine, solanine and piperine in an ayurvedic preparation prepared from Aconitum ferox, Solanum indicum, Piper nigrum and Piper longum. The separation of these alkaloids was achieved on an reversed phase C-18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm ID, 5 μm particle size), with isocratic elution using a mixture of acetonitrile–potassium hydrogen phosphate buffer (10 mM, pH 7.5)–methanol (60:25:15, v/v) at a flow rate of 1 mL min⁻¹ with UV detection at 227 nm for aconitine and solanine while 343 nm for piperine. The calibration curves were linear with correlation coefficients of 0.9990, 0.9942, 0.9989 for solanine, piperine and aconitine, respectively. The % Relative standard deviation (%RSD) values were less than 2% in the concentration range of 10–100 μg mL⁻¹ for all the three alkaloids. Intra-day assay and inter-day assay precision of the analytes were less than 2%, and the average recovery rates obtained were in the range of 98–102% for all with %RSD below 2%. Quantitative analysis of the alkaloids in the laboratory and marketed formulations showed that the contents of the alkaloids varied significantly. This method can provide a scientific and technical platform to the product manufacturers for setting up a quality control standard as well as to the public for quality and safety assurance of the proprietary ayurvedic formulations.