Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) is a widely used medicinal plant possessing several pharmacological effects due to presence of active compounds. This study describes a method of using ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with photodiode array (PDA) detector for the separation of phenolic compounds in M. chamomilla and its crude extracts. Separation was conducted on C18 column (150 mm × 2 mm, 1.8 μm) using a gradient elution with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and 4% aqueous acetic acid at 25°C. The method proposed was validated for determination of free and total apigenin and apigenin 7-glucoside contents as bioactive compounds in the extracts by testing sensitivity, linearity, precision and recovery. In general, UPLC produced significant improvements in method sensitivity, speed and resolution. Extraction was performed with methanol, 70% aqueous ethanol and water solvents. Total phenolic and total flavonoid contents ranged from 1.77 to 50.75 gram (g) of gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g and 0.82 to 36.75 g quercetin equivalent (QE)/100 g in dry material, respectively. There was a considerable difference from 40 to 740 mg/100 g for apigenin and 210 to 1110 mg/100 g for apigenin 7-glucoside in dry material.
Keywords: Apigenin; Apigenin 7-glucoside; Flavonoids; Matricaria chamomilla; UPLC.