title: Analysis and stability of the constituents of artichoke and St. John's wort tinctures by HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS.
abstract: In continuing our investigations on tinctures, which represent both herbal drug preparations and herbal medicinal products, 40% and 60% v/v tinctures of artichoke and St. John's wort were investigated. Artichoke is largely used in hepatic disorders, while St. John's wort is an anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, and healing agent. Both herbal drugs contain various constituents, although the compounds responsible for the main effects have not yet been completely identified. However, caffeoylquinic acids and flavones seem to be of crucial importance for the activity of artichoke, as well as flavonoids, naphthodianthrones, and phloroglucinol derivatives for St. John's wort, and they are used as marker constituents. Thus, quantification of all these constituents was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) and HPLC--mass spectrometry (MS) analyses with rutin as external standard. In addition the stability of the constituents of these tinctures from accelerated and long-term testing was also evaluated. From the results it was evidenced that constituent content depends on the solvent used for the extraction. The stability was also shown to be very different and seems to be related to the water content of the tinctures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Florence, Via G. Capponi 9, 50121 Firenze, Italy. ar.bilia@unifi.it
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Bilia
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Bergonzi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mazzi
authors.forename: F F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Vincieri
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D031943:Cynara scolymus / Q000737:chemistry*; D004355:Drug Stability; D020902:Hypericum / Q000737:chemistry*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts