High-performance thin layer chromatography method for estimation of andrographolide in herbal extract and polyherbal formulations

A new, simple, sensitive, precise and robust high-performance thin layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method was developed for the estimation of andrographolide in herbal extracts and pharmaceutical dosage forms. Analysis of andrographolide was performed on TLC aluminium plates pre-coated with silica gel 60F-254 as stationary phase. Linear ascending development was carried out in twin trough glass chamber saturated with chloroform:toluene:methanol (66:26:8, v/v/v) at room temperature (25 ±2 ˚C). The Rf value of andrographolide was found to be 0.49. Camag TLC scanner III was used for spectrodensitometric scanning and analysis in absorbance mode at 229 nm. The system was found to give compact spots for andrographolide (Rf value of 0.49). The data for calibration plots showed good linear relationship with r^2= 0.9986 in the concentration range of 200 ng to 1000 ng with respect to peak area. The present method was validated by precision, recovery, robustness and reproducibility according to ICH guidelines. The limits of detection and quantification were determined and it was found to be 3.5 and 11.7 ng, respectively. Statistical analysis of the data showed that the method is reproducible and selective for estimation of andrographolide.