A method for quantitative determination of furanocoumarins in capsules and tablets of phytochemical preparations.

A method for sample preparation and analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection (HPLC-UV) was developed for analysis of psoralen, bergapten and 5-[3-(4,5-dihydro-5,5-dimethyl-4-oxo-2-furanyl)-butoxy]-7H-furo[3-2-g][1]benzopyran-7-one in capsules and tablets employed in Brazil for certain illnesses. The linearity, accuracy, the inter- and intra-day precision of the procedure were evaluated. Analytical curves for furanocoumarins were linear in the range of 1.0-50.0 microg/ml. The recoveries of the furanocoumarins in the products analyzed were 97.3-99.5%, and the percent coefficient of variation for the quantitative analysis of the furanocoumarins in the analyses was under 5%. For inter-equipment study gas chromatography (GC) was employed.