Comparative evaluation of the flavonoid content in officinal Tiliae flos and Turkish lime species for quality assessment

Lime flowers are used for various medicinal purposes in phytotherapy. Flavo noids, volatile oil and mucilage components are known as the active ingredi ents. In European Pharmacopoeia (EP), a simple thin-layer chromatographic ( TLC) technique. which based on the analysis of the flavonoid composition wa s defined for the qualitative analysis of the drug. In this study, flavonoi d composition in the flowers, bracts and leaves of the officinal species, T ilia platyphyllos were studied using a reversed-phase high performance liqu id chromatographic (HPLC) technique, in order to develop a rapid, reliable and accurate method for quantitative analysis. The results were further com pared with in those parts of two common species growing in Turkey. Tilia ru bra and Tilia argentea. Results of the present study revealed that flavonoi d composition of each lime species possesses a specific fingerprint HPLC ch romatogram depending upon the parts used and evaluation of the data might b e helpful in the quality assurance as well as determination of adulteration of the crude drug. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.