Simultaneous Determination of Alkaloids and Flavonoids from Aerial Parts of Passiflora Species and Dietary Supplements using UPLC-UV-MS and HPTLC

Abstract

A rapid UPLC method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of five indole alkaloids (harmalol, harmol, harmane, harmaline and harmine) and four flavonoids (orientin, isoorientin, vitexin, and isovitexin) from the aerial parts of Passiflora incarnata L. (Passifloraceae), other species of Passiflora (P. violacea Vell., P. edulis Sims., P. suberosa L., P. morifolia Mast. and P. quadrangularis L.), Peganum harmala, and dietary supplements that claim to contain Passiflora. The separation was achieved within eight minutes by using C-18 column, a water/acetonitrile mobile phase, both containing formic acid, using a gradient system and a temperature of 35°C. The method was validated for linearity, repeatability, limits of detection (LOD), and limits of quantification (LOQ). The wavelength used for quantification with the diode array detector was 340 nm for flavonoids and alkaloids. The developed method is simple, economic, fast and especially suitable for quality control analysis of flavonoids and alkaloids in plant samples and dietary supplements. The compounds (including isoschaftoside and schaftoside) in plant samples and commercial products of Passiflora were identified and confirmed by UPLC-MS. A HPTLC method was also developed for the chemical fingerprint analysis of Passiflora samples.