Development and Validation of an HPTLC Method for the Analysis of Oleanolic Acid from the Roots of Helicteres isora Linn.

A sensitive and reliable high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method has been developed for the quantitative determination of oleanolic acid in the dried roots of Helicteres isora Linn. Total sapogenins were isolated from the roots, and their alcoholic extract was applied on silica gel G 60 F254 plates with toluene-ethyl acetate-glacial acetic acid, 7:3:0.1 (v/v/v) as mobile phase. Detection and quantification were performed by densitometric scanning at 529 nm. The accuracy of the method was confirmed by conducting recovery studies at three different levels using the standard addition method. The average recovery of oleanolic acid was found to be 98.98%. The proposed HPTLC method provides good resolution of oleanolic acid from other constituents present in sapogenin extract of dried roots of H. isora and can be used for quantification of oleanolic acid present in the extract. The method is simple, accurate, and precise.