Validation of an HPLC-DAD method for the determination of plant phenolics

A selective, sensitive and precise reversed phase HPLC-DAD method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of six phenolic acids in the aqueous extract and their hydrolyzed forms prepared from Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav., Solanaceae, Ampelocissus acapulcensis (Kunth) Planch., Vitaceae, or Brosimum alicastrum Sw., Moraceae. The new method showed good linearity (r > 0.999) in a relatively wide concentration range (0.5–100 mg/l). The limits of detection and quantification for the compounds were in the range of 0.097–0.467 mg/l and 0.097–0.496 mg/l, respectively. The recoveries of compounds were calculated in three different concentrations in the range of 88.07–109.17% and matrix effect was less than 5% for all phenolic acids. Finally, our developed HPLC method is simple, reliable and successfully applied to identify and quantify the phenolic acids in complex aqueous extracts from medicinal species, that can be useful for the analysis of infusions that people consume in folk medicine.