Determination of silymarine in the extract from the dried silybum marianumfruits by high performance liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis

Silybine (SBN), isosilybine (ISBN), silycristine (SCN), silydianine (SDN), and taxifoline (TXF) are the main active flavanoids, generally found in the dried fruits of silybum marianum. The concentrations of these compounds, e xcepted TXF, are all together usually expressed as silymarine content. In t his paper the determination of the silymarine titre was made by high perfor mance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and high performance capillary electrop horesis (HPCE). Two reversed stationary phases, RP-18 and RP-8, were observ ed comparing the resolutions of all considered flavanoids with each station ary phases. The HPCE was carried out considering the possible improvement i n the resolution of SBN, CN, SDN and TXF using,8-cyclodextrines or organic modifier. The qualitative and quantitative data obtained by HPLC and HPCE w ere compared. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.