Analysis of some natural antioxidants by thin-layer chromatography and high performance thin-layer chromatography

(HP)TLC is a technique with large applicability in the fields of plant material analysis and stability tests of extracts and finished products. The implementation of a modern standardized methodology led to the increasing of acceptance and recognition of (HP) TLC as competitive analytical method. (HP) TLC has many advantages, such as lower costs, short time analysis, the possibility of multiple detection, and specific derivatization on the same plate, etc. The natural antioxidants (polyphenols) are present in plant extracts; they play a key role in antioxidative defence mechanisms in biological systems and they act as free radicals scavenging agents. The separation of polyphenols from each other and from other components of the plant extracts can be done by a great number of (HP) TLC developed techniques. Mostly, complex crude plant extracts are screened for antioxidant activity or to distinguish the components of plant extracts with antioxidant character or radical-scavenging properties. (HP) TLC has been used for the determination of individual antioxidant capacity of target compounds and it might be of interest to the routine chemical or biological screening and they can solve real analytical problems.