Improved liquid chromatographic method for determination of organic acids in leaves, pulp, fruits, and rinds of Garcinia.

An improved liquid chromatographic (LC) method was developed for determination of organic acids in leaves, pulp, fruits, and rinds of Garcinia. At present, the commonly used LC method for analysis of organic acids in Garcinia extracts uses direct application of the extracts on the column. This practice gradually reduces efficiency of the column and shortens its life. In the improved method, the interfering substances such as pigments and xanthones were effectively removed by passing the aqueous extract through an ODS cartridge. With subsequent injection on a C18 reversed-phase column, using 6.0 mM phosphoric acid as the mobile phase with a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and UV detection at 210 nm, the organic acids were determined in the extracts. The major organic acid was (-)-hydroxycitric acid at the level of 2.5, 0.8, 3.0, and 20.1% in leaf, pulp, fresh fruit, and dried rinds, respectively. Minor quantities of hydroxycitric acid lactone, oxalic acid, and citric acid were also identified. Limits of detection and recoveries were 0.9-1.5 microg and 93.9-99.8%, respectively. This is the first report on the composition of organic acids from Garcinia pedunculata.