Validation of TLC-Densitometry Method for Estimation of Catechin in Acacia catechu Heartwood

The present study was primarily aimed to determine catechin in Acacia catechu extract using high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) which is one of the most reliable, cost-efficient and flexible separation techniques that ideally suits to the analysis of phytoconstituents. The content of catechin was estimated by standardized HPTLC procedures using a calibration curve plotted using various concentrations of the marker. The estimation of catechin was achieved using analytical grade solvent system, i.e., ethyl acetate:distilled water:formic acid: glacial acetic acid (100:23:11:11). The content (percentage yield) of catechin in A. catechu heartwood chips was found to be 3.580 ± 0.00052. The instrumental precision, repeatability, coefficient of determination, linearity range, intra-day precision, limit of detection (LOD), inter-day precision and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found to be 1.89% CV, 1.05% CV, 0.9979, 100 – 1500 ng, 8 ng, 26 ng, 1.58% CV, and 1.92% CV, respectively. Results also confirmed the robustness and ruggedness of the proposed method. The developed method is found to be simple, economical, accurate and precise, and can be utilized for the quantitative as well as qualitative estimation of catechin in A. catechu extract and related commercial formulations.