PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF TOTAL ANTHRAQUINONES OF VISMIA GUIANENSIS (AUBL.) CHOISY

ABSTRACT Vismia guianensis is a plant species of high occurrence in the Amazon and northeastern Brazil, which has been studied lately, because of its antimicrobial and anticancer properties. In order to make an herbal medicine, National Agency for Sanitary Surveillance of Brazil, recommends the production of a drug and plant extracts analysis report indicating: method, specifications and results obtained. The drug was characterized by particle size, amount of water and the total ash content; and plant extract through its density, pH and dry residue. The quantification of total anthraquinones and method validation was done by UV-VIS spectroscopy. The drug in this study produced a coarse powder whose determination of water is within the acceptable limits and the total ash content was 1.64%. The extractive solution showed a low pH, density of 0.89 mg/mL and 9.5% on yields from solids. HPLC found that the EtOAc fraction of the plant extract is consisted of phenolic compounds and anthraquinones. And the method of quantification of total anthraquinones, using emodin as external standard, was validated by UV-VIS spectroscopy at λ 290 nm, determining that in 1 g of extractive solution there are 42.85 mg of total anthraquinones. The results obtained served as reference for the quality control of drug and plant derivative of this species; and the validation of the quantification method showed a high performance.