Determination of khellin and visnagin in Ammi visnaga fruits by capillary electrophoresis

A new, simple and rapid capillary electrophoresis method was developed for the identification and quantitative determination of two medically active constituents—khellin and visnagin—in the extracts of Ammi visnaga fruits. Micellar electrochromatographic separation of khellin and visnagin was carried out using 10 mmol/l borate, 50 mmol/l sodium dodecylsulfate, 25% (v/v) acetonitrile at pH 9 as running buffer. Ammi visnaga fruits were extracted with methanol and the extracts were directly injected without any purification and pre-separation processes. Coumarin was used as internal standard for quantitation and the limits of detection for khellin and visnagin were 2.36 and 1.97 μg/ml, respectively using UV detection at 245 nm.