Determination of rosmarinic acid in sage and borage leaves by high-performance liquid chromatography with different detection methods.

Rosmarinic acid is separated and identified on the basis of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-UV-mass spectrometry data in 80% methanol in water extracts from the leaves of Salvia species (S. officinalis, S. glutinosa, S. aethiopis, S. sclarea, and Borago officinalis) as a dominant radical scavenger towards the 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH*) stable radical in HPLC-DPPH* system. The content of rosmarinic acid in the plants is calibrated and quantitated from chromatograms obtained by UV detection at 280 nm. The concentration ranges from 13.3 to 47.3 mg of the phenolic acid per gram dried leaves of all plants is tested. S. glutinosa and S. sclarea have the highest concentration of rosmarinic acid. The amount of rosmarinic acid in borage leaves is similar compared with Salvia officinalis (15 mg/g). The HPLC-DPPH* system is calibrated for quantitative DPPH* scavenging assessment of rosmarinic acid. The results reveal excellent correlation (r2 = 0.98) between the rosmarinic acid concentration and antiradical activity.