Simultaneous Determination of Ten Sugars in Tinospora cordifolia by Ultrasonic Assisted Extraction and LC-ELSD

Sugars present in medicinal plants are known for protecting and stimulating the immune system against various biological disorders. Tinospora cordifolia is a reputed Indian herb used for immunity enhancing which is mainly attributed to saccharides. In the present study, a simple, sensitive, and reliable liquid chromatography method based on ultrasonic assisted extraction and evaporative light scattering detection was developed for simultaneous determination of ten sugars comprising of monosaccharides (l-(+)-rhamnose, d-(+)-xylose, d-(-)-arabinose, beta-d-(+)-glucose), disaccharides (sucrose, d-(+)-cellobiose, alpha-lactose), alditols (xylitol, d-(+)-mannitol) and a polyalcohol (myo-inositol) in T. cordifolia. The separation was achieved on Zorbax-NH(2) column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 A mu m) in gradient elution of acetonitrile: water as mobile phase with flow rate of 0.5 mL min(-1). The drift tube temperature and nitrogen flow-rate were optimized at 70 A degrees C and 2.0 standard litres per minute, respectively. The method was validated for linearity, accuracy, precision, limits of detection and quantification. The calibration equation revealed a good linear relationship (r (2) = 0.959-0.999). The sufficient recovery was observed in the range of 94.1-99.9%. The method showed good reproducibility with intra- and inter-day precision of < 0.99 and 0.97% (RSD), respectively. The detection and quantification limits for the compounds were in the range of 8.32-44.29 and 25.23-134.20 mu g mL(-1), respectively.