Abstract:
Because of its extensive use in traditional medicine, the Indian plant T. cordifolia, known as 'Heavenly Elixir', has been chemically and analytically screened. Because the stem is therapeutically highly valued, its methanol extract was subjected to detailed chromatographic separation to isolate the marker compound jatrorrhizine, a protoberberine alkaloid, which was identified by IR, (1)H and (13)C NMR, and mass spectroscopic analysis. A simple and rapid HPTLC method has been established for quantification of jatrorrhizine. The method was linear in the range 40-140 ng. Statistical data and recovery >96% reveals the accuracy of the method. The method was found to give consistent results and was suitable for evaluation of commercial preparations of T cordifolia.