Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Nyctanthes arbortristis Linn leaf extracts by HPTLC

Abstract

Nyctanthes arbortristis L. (Oleaceae) or "night jasmine" is cultivated for its fragrant flowers and is widely used in traditional systems of medicine as an anthelmintic, cholagogue, laxative and antimalarial. The plant has been studied pharmacognostically and certain standards are available. However there are no reports on HPTLC quality assessment of Nyctanthes arbortristis. Hence the present study involves the development of qualitative HPTLC fingerprint profile of n-hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol extracts of leaves of N. arbortristis followed by quantitation of marker compounds â-sitosterol, â-amyrin in n-hexane extract and caffeic acid in ethyl acetate extract. The developed methods were used for comparison of plant extracts with a few commercial formulations containing N. arbortristis. These HPTLC methods can be used easily for evaluation of quality of plants collected from different sources as well as for commercial formulations containing N. arbortristis.