Analysis of nordihydroguaiaretic acid in Larrea divaricata Cav. extracts by micellar electrokinetic chromatography.

P.W. STEGE; LORENA SOMBRA; DAVICINO ROBERTO; ROBERTO OLSINA

PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS

JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD

Lugar: Hoboken; Año: 2011 vol. 22 p. 74 - 79

0958-0344

Introduction – Larrea divaricata Cav. is a common shrub used in folk medicine to treat a variety of diseases. The main productextracted from this bush is nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDG), which is a potent antioxidant.Objective – In this paperwe propose a novel method for the quantification of NDG in different extracts of Larrea divaricata. Theconcentration of NDG in two different aqueous extracts (I and D) and an ethanolic extract (Eet) was analysed, in order toevaluate the safe use of the extracts for pharmacological purposes.Methodology – Micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) was performed under the following conditions: the backgroundelectrolyte used consisted of 20 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.5), 10 mM sodium dodecyl sulphate and 10% acetonitrile.Results – The limits of detection and quantitation of NDG were 4.54 ¥ 10-4 and 10.6 ¥ 10-4 mg/mL, respectively. The concentrationof this acid in both aqueous extracts was within the safe levels. However, the decoction must be used carefully becausethe concentration of the acidwas almost over the recommended limit. In the case of ethanolic extracts, the amount of NDGwasabove the safe concentration, which is in agreement with the solubility of the active compound in ethanol.Conclusions – The conclusions of this study demonstrate thatmost of these plant extracts should be used with care, especiallythose which are used with medicinal purposes. This is the first research on the quantification of NDG using MEKC in jarillaextracts.