title: Two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography with adsorbent gradient as a method of chromatographic fingerprinting of furanocoumarins for distinguishing selected varieties and forms of Heracleum spp.
abstract: There are a lot of taxonomic classifications of the genus Heracleum, and many authors indicate they need revision. Morphological identification is difficult to perform, as there are only few characteristic differences between each Heracleum species, varieties and forms. Furanocoumarins are characteristic compounds for the Apiaceae family, and they can be found in the whole genus in large quantities. Despite this fact, it is difficult to use the furanocoumarin profiles of plants, for their discrimination, as furanocoumarins are difficult to separate, due to their similar chemical structures and physicochemical properties. In this paper, a new, simple method is proposed for the discrimination of selected species, varieties and forms of the genus Heracleum. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) with an adsorbent gradient (unmodified silica gel+octadecylsilica wettable with water) enables complete separation of the structural analogues. The proposed method gives the possibility to distinguish selected species, varieties and forms of the Heracleum genus, as they produce distinctive furanocoumarin fingerprints. The method is characterised by high specificity, precision, reproducibility and stability values. It is for the first time that graft TLC is used for constructing fingerprints of herbs. The complete separation of ten structural analogues, by combining gradient TLC with the unidimensional multiple development technique, has not been reported yet.
authors.affiliation: Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Medical University, 20-081 Lublin, Poland.
authors.forename: Lukasz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cieśla
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bogucka-Kocka
authors.forename: Michał
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hajnos
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petruczynik
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Waksmundzka-Hajnos
mesh_terms: D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer / Q000379:methods*; D011564:Furocoumarins / Q000032:analysis*; D030002:Heracleum / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011564:Furocoumarins