Thin-layer chromatographic scanner, spectrophotometric and high-performance liquid chromatographic methods for the determination of colchicine

One high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) and two thin-layer chromatographic (TLC) methods are proposed for the determination of colchicine in crude drugs and pharmaceutical preparations. The TLC scanner method is based on measurement of the absorbance of the separated colchicine spot; alternatively, after scraping the spot from the plate and elution the absorbance can be measured spectrophotometrically. The HPLC assay was carried out isocratically on a reversed-phase column using MeOH-H2O (60 + 40). The recoveries were 99.2 +/- 1.23, 99.1 +/- 1.12 and 99.1 +/- 2.01% for the TLC scanner, spectrophotometric and HPLC methods, respectively. The methods were shown to be sensitive and specific and can be used as an alternative to the pharmacopoeial methods having been applied to the determination of colchicine in corms of Merendera persica and in three pharmaceutical preparations.