Isolation and Densitometric HPTLC Method for Quantification of Belleric Acid in the Fruit Pericarp of Terminalia bellerica and its Formulations

For the first time a simple, sensitive, rapid, precise and accurate HPTLC method has been established for quantification of belleric acid in Terminalia bellerica (TB) fruit pericarp and its formulations. Silica gel plates were used with toluene-ethyl acetate-methanol-formic acid 3:3:1.4:0.2 (v/v) as mobile phase, and densitometric evaluation was performed at 205 nm. The method was validated for precision, repeatability, and accuracy. Average recovery of belleric acid at three levels (98.67, 100.2, and 100.90%) showed the reproducibility of the method was excellent. The calibration plot was linear in the range 250–1250 ng per band. The method could be easily adapted for high-throughput screening and for quality control of TB and its formulations.