Determination of five carbazole alkaloids from the root of Clausena harmandiana by High Performance Liquid Chromatography.

Abstract Introduction: Clausena harmandiana Pierre is a herbal plant which has important biological activities. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop an analytical method for determination of five active carbazole alka-loid constituents in the root bark of this plant which were clausine-K, clausine-E, lansine, 7-methoxymukonal and7-hydroxyheptaphylline. Materials and Method: High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with diodearray detector was developed and used in this study. Separation was carried out using a Hypersil ODS columnand detection at 254 nm wavelength. Results: Chromatographic conditions using a mixture of acetonitrile andwater with constant ratio of 40:60 was found to give complete resolution of these five active constituents and fromother components in the extract of ethyl acetate and ethanol. This analytical method was validated for accuracy,precision, linearity, limit of detection and limit of quantitation and could give reliable results which could be usedfor the determination of these five active constituents in the root bark of this herbal plant. Conclusion: The HPLCmethod developed in this study provided a good determination of the active constituents in the root bark of thisplant and should be used for the purpose of the quality control. The advantage of this analytical method was thesimple HPLC conditions and short analysis time. Keywords: Clausena harmandiana , HPLC, Carbazole alkaloids