APPLICATION OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY TO THE DETERMINATION OF BITTER PRINCIPLES OF PHARMACEUTICAL RELEVANCE

A rapid HPLC method for the determination of bitter principles of plan t origin (BP) was developed. The reversed-phase systems with C-18 colu mns and methanol-water mixtures with gradient concentrations used allo w the complete separation of seven BP of different types to be achieve d in less than 12 min. Several retention models are presented to descr ibe the relationships between the capacity factors of BP and their hyd rophobicities and/or the concentration of an organic modifier in the e luent, which are promising for the identification and evaluation of th e chromatographic properties of new substances. Predictions of the ret ention models were found to agree well with the experimental data for different solute, mobile phase and column combinations in both isocrat ic and gradient elution modes. The method was applied to the determina tion of verbenalin in drug drops and found to be suitable for routine analysis.