Liquid chromatographic monitoring of phytoecdysteroid production of Serratula wolffii

Seasonal dependence of 20-hydroxyecdysone content of Serratula wolffii was monitored. Thin-layer chromatography was used after a single clean-up using polyamide. High performance liquid chromatography was employed for the ana lysis, after removal of the high excess of flavonoids and other impurities using a clean-up on both C18 and polyamide. Parallel analyses using both thin layer chromatography with densitometry an d high performance liquid chromatography gave similar results at the determ ination of vegetation dependence of ecdysteroids. Results indicated two max ima of ecdysteroid content (w/w), such as beginning of vegetation (in April and May) and during blossoming (in August). The two ecdysteroids, 20-hydroxyecdysone and polypodine B were also isolate d from Serratula wolffii, their chemical structures were identified by spec troscopic methods.