A simple isocratic HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of sinensetin, eupatorin, and 3'-hydroxy-5,6,7,4'-tetramethoxyflavone in Orthosiphon stamineus extracts

Orthosiphon stamineus extracts contain three flavonoids (3'-hydroxy-5,6,7,4'-tetramethoxyflavone, sinensetin, and eupatorin) as bioactive substances. Previous reported high performance liquid chromatography- ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) methods for the determination of these flavonoids have several disadvantages, including unsatisfactory separation times and not being well validated according to International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) standard guidelines. A rapid, specific reversed-phase HPLC method with isocratic elution of acetonitrile: isopropyl alcohol: 20mM phosphate buffer (NaH(2)PO(4)) (30:15:55, v/v) (pH 3.5) at a flow-rate of 1ml/minute, a column temperature of 25°C, and ultraviolet (UV) detection at 340 nm was developed. The method was validated and applied for quantification of different types of O stamineus extracts and fractions. The method allowed simultaneous determination of 3'-hydroxy-5,6,7,4'-tetramethoxyflavone, sinensetin, and eupatorin in the concentration range of 0.03052-250 μg/ml. The limits of detection and quantification, respectively, were 0.0076 and 0.061 μg/ml for 3'-hydroxy-5,6,7,4'-tetramethoxyflavone, 0.0153 and 0.122 μg/ml for sinensetin and 0.0305 and 0.122 μg/ml for eupatorin. The percent relative standard deviation (% RSD) values for intraday were 0.048-0.368, 0.025-0.135, and 0.05-0.476 for 3'-hydroxy-5,6,7,4'-tetramethoxyflavone, sinensetin, and eupatorin, respectively, and those for intraday precision were 0.333-1.688, 0.722-1.055, and 0.548-1.819, respectively. The accuracy for intraday were 91.25%-103.38%, 94.32%-109.56%, and 92.85%-109.70% for 3'-hydroxy-5,6,7,4'-tetramethoxyflavone, sinensetin, and eupatorin, respectively, and those for interday accuracy were 97.49%-103.92%, 103.58%-104.57%, and 103.9%-105.33%, respectively. The method was found to be simple, accurate and precise and is recommended for routine quality control analysis of O stamineus extract containing the three flavonoids as the principle components in the extract.