HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC DETERMINATION OF SAPONINS FROM HEDERA-HELIX L USING A LIGHT-SCATTERING DETECTOR

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of bidesmosidic and monodesmosidic saponins from the lea ves of Hedera helix L. using a light-scattering detector is proposed. A satisfactory separation of the bidesmosidic and monodesmosidic sapon ins is obtained in 25 min on a reversed phase RP18 using an acetonitri le-water mixture as eluant. Hederasaponin C and alpha-hederin were fou nd to be the major saponins of the leaves. The linearity of response, repeatability and reproducibility of the proposed method were tested. The detection limits for hederasaponin C and alpha-hederin were 0,1 an d 0.05 mu g/ 20 mu l respectively.