Monitoring of Phenolic Compounds for the Quality Control of Melissa officinalis Products by Capillary Electrophoresis

ACOSTA, GIMENA; ARCE, SILVIA; MARTINEZ, LUIS DANTE; LLABOT, JUAN; GOMEZ, MARÍA ROXANA

PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS

JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2011 vol. 23 p. 177 - 183

0958-0344

Introduction Official assays for the quality control of Melissa officinalis L. (Lamiaceae) leaves establish the quantification of total hydroxycinnamic derivatives expressed as rosmarinic acid. Objective The goal of this work was to develop a simple, fast and reliable method for monitoring the phenolic composition in herbs from the Lamiaceae family and for rapidly detecting M. officinalis adulteration or substitution in commercial medicinal samples in Argentina. Methodology A capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method was performed under the following conditions: the background electrolyte (BGE) consisted of 20 mM sodium tetraborate buffer, pH 9.2; the applied voltage was 25 kV; the capillary and sample temperatures were kept at 25 °C; the hydrodynamic mode was selected for the sample injection (3.45 kPa during 5 s). Results A CZE method that achieved the separation and simultaneous determination of eight related phenolic compounds in less than 11 min was optimised for application to control quality analysis of M. officinalis-based products. The method was validated according to the US Federal Drug Agency requirements and offers advantages in terms of analysis time, cost and operation. Conclusions The proposed methodology can be applied to the standardisation and quality control of plant material and phytopharmaceutical products derived from the Lamiaceae family, as indicated by the results obtained in the analysis of commercial medicinal products in Argentina.