RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The well-known medicinal plants Ricinus communis L. and Euphorbia hirta L. have been traditionally used to treat a variety of ailments in the India and other countries. OBJECTIVE: In the present research, a simple, rapid, reliable, and accessible HPTLC technique has been established for concurrent quantification of phenolic compounds (syringic acid and vanillic acid) and evaluation of their anti-oxidant capacity. METHOD: The chromatographic separation was conceded on pre-coated silica gel plates 60 F254 as the stationary phase. The appropriate mobile phase combination of toluene-ethyl acetate-formic acid (7:2.5:0.5, v/v/v) were developed to expand the plates which separated components according to the marker compounds. Further, the anti-oxidant potential of methanol extract of R. communis (MERC) and E. hirta (MERH) were also assessed with 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) by using UV spectrophotometry. RESULTS: Densitometric scanning was performed with a Camag V scanner and measured at two different wave lengths, 272 and 318 nm. The marker compounds were practically resolved with RF 0.5 ± 0.04 for syringic acid and 0.6 ± 0.06 for vanillic acid. The results obtained in the study of anti-oxidant activity of MERC and MERH showed significant free radical scavenging capacity against DPPH-generated free radicals. CONCLUSIONS: The developed HPTLC method was validated for accuracy, linearity, precision, and specificity. Both the extracts revealed considerable antioxidant activity. The reported existing phenolic and flavonoids compounds are responsible for antioxidant activity of plant extracts.