Separation and Identification of Furocoumarin in Fruits of Heracleum candicans DC. by HPTLC

Heracleum candicans Wall. ex DC. (Apiaceae) is widely used in Indian system of medicines as an aphrodisiac, nerve tonic and also in the treatment of skin diseases with reports of being rich in furocoumarins which are extensively used in pharmaceutical industry for their photosensitizing activity on human skin. A simple high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of psoralen (1) and heraclenol (2) in the fruits of H. candicans. The analytes were separated on silica gel F 254 plates with toluene : diethy lether : acetic acid (6 : 4 : 1) and scanned densitometrically at 350 nm. The method was validated in terms of precision, repeatability, and accuracy. The linear range for psoralen and heraclenol was found to be 1-5 mu g spot(-1) and 1-4 mu g spot(-1) with correlation coefficient of 0.973 and 0.964, respectively. The two compounds were quantified in fruits of H. candicans and were found to be present in the range of 0.021-0.036% and 0.029-0.043% w/w. The method was found to be very simple, accurate, precise, and economical and can be used for routine quality control.