Assessment for the light-induced cis–trans isomerization of rhapontigenin and its glucoside rhaponticin by capillary electrophoresis and spectrometric methods

The light-induced cis–trans isomerization of rhapontigenin (RHA) and its glucoside rhaponticin (RHA-Glc) were evaluated under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation. A simple and rapid capillary electrophoresis method was developed for the kinetic study of four stilbenes (both cis and trans form of RHA and RHA-Glc). These analyses were achieved by using β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) modified capillary zone electrophoresis with diode array detector (CZE-DAD). The method provided reliable separations with a short analysis time of 3 min. The purity of individual compound was checked by UV spectral comparisons with known standards, and further confirmed by 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Furthermore, the UV absorbance and the molar absoptivity (ɛ) values were determined by UV–vis spectrophotometer to be 36824 L mol−1 cm−1 at λmax 324.5 nm for trans-RHA and 43894 L mol−1 cm−1 at λmax 325 nm for trans-RHA-Glc in methanol/water mixture solution (50%, v:v), respectively. CZE, UV–vis and NMR spectroscopy studies provided similar conclusions by considering the influence of irradiation time and the influence of irradiation wavelength.