Analysis of flavonol aglycones and terpenelactones in Ginkgo biloba extract: A comparison of high-performance thin-layer chromatography and column high-performance liquid chromatography.

Advancements in automated high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) have made it feasible to assess its use for the quantitative analysis of marker compounds in botanical preparations. We report here the findings of method comparisons for the terpenelactones and flavonol aglycones by column high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with evaporative light scattering and UV detection, and HPTLC with a scanning densitometer. For the HPTLC assay of terpenelactones, total bilobalide, ginkgolide A, and ginkgolide B consistently achieved <70% of the total determined using HPLC, regardless of variations to postchromatographic derivatization time and temperature. Accuracy testing showed the possibility of a matrix interference. In contrast, a good relationship (95%) was determined between HPTLC and HPLC for determination of total flavonol glycosides (calculated from combined quercetin, kaempferol, and isorhamnetin) from an acid-hydrolyzed Ginkgo biloba L. (GBE) sample. The HPTLC flavonol aglycone method also performed well in terms of accuracy (overall average of 96% recovery for the 3 aglycones) and consecutive plate repeatability (overall percent relative standard deviation of 4.4). It is demonstrated that HPTLC can be a time-saving complement to HPLC for routine analysis of the flavonol glycosides in GBE.