Quantitative determination of the major saponin mixture bacoside A in Bacopa monnieri by HPLC

AbstractBacoside A, the putative bioactive component of the Indian medicinal plant Bacopa monnieri, was found to be a mixture of saponins with bacoside A3 (1), bacopaside II (2), jujubogenin isomer of bacopasaponin C (3) and bacopasaponin C (4) as major constituents. An HPLC method together with an optimised extraction procedure was developed for the estimation of 1–4 in B. monnieri to enable standardisation of the latter. Concentration ranges of the analytes in samples of B. monnieri collected from different regions of India were 0.14–0.85% (w/w) (1), 0.12–0.69% (2), 0.05–0.72% (3) and 0.05–0.44% (4). The importance of using bacoside A, with known concentrations of 1–4, as a reference standard for the routine analysis of B. monnieri is highlighted. Two common flavonoids, luteolin and apigenin, were present in all samples of B. monnieri. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.