HPTLC Method for Estimation of Ellagic Acid and Gallic Acid from Flowers of Woodfordia fruticosa Kurz

Woodfordia fruticosa Kurz, belonging to family Lythraceae, commonly known as dhataki pushpa, is a plant of tropical and subtropical region with a long history of medicinal use. Wide range of chemical compounds including tannins, flavonoides, anthraquinones glycosides and polyphenols have been isolated from the plant. The extract from the flowers are used in folklore medicine for treatments of like wound healing, bowel complaint, rheumatism, hematuria. Litreture survey indicates that the flowers are rich in tannins, both gallo and ellagitannins. Hence, it was thought worthwhile to use Ellagic acid and Gallic acid as the marker compounds for the standardization of the flowers. With this background the present study was undertaken to standardize the flowers using Ellagic acid and Gallic acid as marker compounds. The HPTLC method used for the standardization was validated for the parameters like specificity, limits of detection and quantification, linearity, precision, accuracy and recovery. The total content of Ellagic acid and Gallic acid in the Methanolic extract was found to be 4.21%, 6.70% and the total content of Ellagic acid and Gallic acid in the Total aqueous extract was found to be 2.62%, 4.75%.