Quantitative determination of β-asarone in calamus by high-performance thin-layer chromatography

Abstract

A quantitative high-performance thin-layer Chromatographic method for determination of β-asarone in Calamus rhizome was developed and validated. The method is suitable for proper identification of Acorus calamus. Through the use of caffeine-modified silica gel as the stationary phase and toluene-ethyl acetate (93 + 7, v/v) as the mobile phase, β-asarone is baseline separated from its isomer α-asarone. Scanning densitometry with absorption measurement at 313 nm allows specific, accurate, and precise quantification of β-asarone. The working range of 40 to 200 ng absolute of the target substance is sufficient to establish whether a given sample passes the limit test of 0.5% maximum as required by the Swiss Pharmacopoeia.