Quantification of b-Sitosterol from Three Jatropha Species by High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography

Abstract

Chromatographic techniques can be used to document phytochemical fingerprint and quantitate chemical markers to identify morphological and geographical variation in the raw herbal material. The three Jatropha species viz., J. nana, J. gossypifolia and J. glandulifera (family- Euphorbiaceae) are used in traditional systems mainly for the treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery, liver disorders and inflammation. While Jatropha nana reported for opthalmia. b-Sitosterol is a phytosterols which is ubiquitous throughout the plant kingdom and reported to possess wide range of biological activities. The petroleum ether extracts were dissolved in methanol and the quantification of analytes has been carried out using mobile phase toluene:methanol (9:1 v/v) on precoated aluminium silica gel plates (Merck) and densitometric determinations was carried out after derivatization with anisaldehyde sulphuric acid reagent. The plates were scanned at 525 nm by absorption/reflection mode. Calibration curves were prepared and the amount of b-sitosterol in the extracts has been estimated by comparing the respective peak areas of the standard. The linearity of standard was found in the concentration of range of 100-500 hg. The correlation coefficient value was 0.9978. High performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) method has been developed and validated for the analysis of b-sitosterol in leaves rout- and seed oil 8 Jatropha species. This was found to be faster, reliable and sensitive for quantification of b-sitosterol.