Development and validation of an HPLC-DAD method for quantification of bornesitol in extracts from Hancornia speciosa leaves after derivatization with p-toluenesulfonyl chloride

Cylitol l-(+)-bornesitol is regarded as a bioactive constituent from Hancornia speciosa leaves, a plant species traditionally used in Brazil to treat diabetes and hypertension. We report a simple HPLC-DAD method for the quantification of bornesitol in extracts from H. speciosa leaves, after derivatization with p-toluenesulfonyl chloride, using pentaerythritol as internal standard. A gradient of methanol, acetonitrile and water was employed for elution on an ODS column and detection was set up at a wavelength of 230 nm. The method was selective and linear over the range 60.4–302.0 μg/ml with r2 of 0.9981, and showed satisfactory precision for intra-day (RSD = 2.37%) and inter-day (RSD = 3.17%) assays. The recovery varied between 92.3% and 99.9% and the limits of quantification and detection were respectively 5.00 and 1.67 μg/ml. The method was applied to quantify bornesitol in extracts from H. speciosa leaves of different specimens.