HPLC and thermal analysis, do they have a good correlation to quantify lycopene in mesoporous silica nanoparticles?

Abstract

Abstract Lycopene (LYC), a carotenoid extracted mainly from tomatoes has several biological properties, making its use desirable as nutraceutical and pharmaceutical active ingredient. However, LYC uses in therapy has limitations related to its solubility, making its association with nanocarriers (like mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN)) a viable alternative to overcome its drawbacks. To know the exact amount of drug incorporated the incorporation final product needs to be analysed by techniques, such as HPLC and thermal analysis. So, this study objective was to validate an HPLC method for LYC quantification and evaluate its applicability in determine LYC encapsulation in MSNs, additionally, as a way of checking and comparing the thermal analysis technique was used. For the applicability, two types of MSNs were evaluated and several conditions were tested. The developed method was properly validated and regarding its applicability, the vast majority of the conditions evaluated proved to be compatible with the method used. As for the comparison, thermal analysis and HPLC analysis showed a good correlation. In conclusion, the HPLC method has been properly validated and proved to be adequate for LYC quantification from MSNs. Additionally, for the greater results reliability, the association between the two techniques used here proved to be desirable.