Determination of gallic acid in Phyllanthus emblica Linn. dried fruit powder by HPTLC

OBJECTIVE: Emblica (Phyllanthus emblica L.), an euphorbiaceous plant, is widely distributed in subtropical and tropical areas of India, China and Indonesia. The fruits possess antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic properties. In the current article a new, simple, sensitive, selective, precise, and robust high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method was developed and validated for the determination of gallic acid in dried fruit powder of Phyllanthus emblica. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The quantitative determination of gallic acid was performed on TLC aluminium plates pre-coated with silica gel 60F-254 as the stationary phase. The linear ascending development was carried out in a twin trough glass chamber saturated with a mobile phase consisting of toluene: ethyl acetate: formic acid: methanol (3:3:0.8:0.2) at room temperature (25 ± 2°C). Camag TLC scanner III was used for spectrodensitometric scanning and analysis, in the absorbance mode, at 278 nm. RESULTS: The linear regression analysis data for the calibration plots showed good linear relationship with r(2) = 0.99977 in the concentration range of 40 – 240 ng spot—1, with respect to the peak area. According to the guidelines of the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH), the method was validated for precision, accuracy, and recovery. CONCLUSION: Statistical analysis of the data showed that the method was reproducible and selective for the estimation of gallic acid.