Capillary electrophoresis determination of biflavanones from Garcinia kola in three traditional African medicinal formulations.

A rapid capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for the quantification of four biologically active biflavanones present in three different traditional African medicinal preparations from the seeds of Garcinia kola was developed. The four biflavanones of interest (GB1, GB2 and GB1-glycoside and kolaflavanone) were quantified in a traditional tea preparation, and two commercially available ethanolic formulations. The optimum separation conditions consisted of a 100 mM borate, pH 9.5 running buffer, which gave baseline resolution of all four components in less than 12 minutes. Linear calibration ranges for each component were between 2.5 and 1000 microg/mL. Limits of detection for the biflavanones quantified in this study were between 3 and 6 microg/mL. The "fingerprint" of the biflavanones in the aqueous tea and two ethanolic formulations was found to be similar, however concentrations of the four biflavanones were up to 50 fold higher in the ethanolic preparations. The major component in all three formulations was GB1.