Luteolin is a flavonoid often found in various medicinal plants that exhibits multiple biological effects such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activity. Commercially available medicinal plants and their preparations containing luteolin are often used in the treatment of hypertension, inflammatory diseases, and even cancer. However, to establish the quality of such preparations, appropriate analytical methods should be used. Therefore, the present paper provides the first comprehensive review of the current analytical methods that were developed and validated for the quantitative determination of luteolin and its C- and O-derivatives including orientin, isoorientin, luteolin 7-O-glucoside and others. It provides a systematic overview of chromatographic analytical techniques including thin layer chromatography (TLC), high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC), liquid chromatography (LC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC) and counter-current chromatography (CCC), as well as the conditions used in the determination of luteolin and its derivatives in plant material.
Keywords: chromatography; hyphenated techniques; luteolin.