A simple, reproducible and efficient high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed. Water (0.05% TFA):acetonitrile (0.05% TFA) was used as the mobile phase in a gradient system for the determination of epicatechin (EP) in leaves of Maytenus ilicifolia (Schrad.) Planch. The analysis was performed using an RP C-18 column (5 µm) as the stationary phase, with a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min, at a wavelength of 210 nm for detection and determination. The main validation parameters of the method were also determined. The calibration curve was found to be linear, with a range of 10-120 µg/mL (EP). The correlation coefficient of the linear regression analysis was within 0.9988, and the detection and quantification limits were 28.61 and 86.77 µg/mL, respectively. The content of EP was successfully determined, with satisfactory reproducibility and recovery. Recovery of the EP was 99.32%. The method was successfully applied to the determination of epicatechin in leaves of M. ilicifolia. The interlaboratorial evaluation showed the reproducibility of the method with a relative standard deviation of 14.62%.
Maytenus ilicifolia; HPLC; epicatechin; analytical method development; quality control
