Short Lecture "Improving efficiency in herbal drug analysis with complementary developing solvents in HPTLC"

The standardisation of HPTLC for identifying herbal drugs and herbal dietary supplements has been achieved through the publication of the European Pharmacopoeia chapter 2.8.25 and the USP NF chapter < 203>. The use of individual methods based on these general chapters can help the industry to improve the reliability and lower the cost of routine quality control. On the other hand, QC laboratories in a cGMP environment may face the challenge of maintaining numerous methods and keeping associated reference substances and solvents in stock. That represents a significant cost factor that cannot be ignored. This presentation explains the use of complementary developing solvents (CDS) which employs a set of three developing solvents with varying degrees of polarity and selectivity. Each sample is then analysed on three separate plates, each with a different developing solvent. Despite the fact that this triples the required chromatographic effort, the cost per sample for routine analysis can still be reduced. That is possible due to the ability to handle all types of samples in parallel and automate the HPTLC process. Furthermore, compared to information attained through conventional HPTLC methods, CDS offers a significantly amplified data set for herbal samples. As time progresses, the data generated by CDS can be accessed by algorithms and artificial intelligence. Consequently, the identification of separated substances can be facilitated through machine learning and data mining techniques. This involves the use of algorithms to predict RF values, or to search a database for potential matches for identification purposes.

 

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Publication History

Article published online:
16 November 2023