Abstract
Various analytical approaches for determining beta-carotene in vegetable crops and commercial dosage forms have been documented. However, neither the qualitative nor quantitative environmental safety and greener aspects of the literature analytical methodologies of beta-carotene analysis have been assessed. As a result, the goal of this research is to develop and validate a reversed-phase "high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) " approach for determining beta-carotene in traditional (TE) and ultrasound-assisted (UBE) extracts of different fractions of Daucus carota (L.), Ipomea batatas (L.), and commercial formulation. The greener mobile phase for beta-carotene analysis was a ternary mixture of ethanol, cyclohexane, and ammonia (95:2.5:2.5, v v v(-1)). The detection of beta-carotene was done at a wavelength of 459 nm. In the 25-1000 ng band(-1) range, the greener reversed-phase HPTLC approach was linear. Other validation factors for beta-carotene analysis, including as accuracy, precision, robustness, and sensitivity, were likewise dependable. The contents of beta-carotene were found to be maximum in hexane: acetone (50:50%) fractions of TE and UBE of D. carota and I. batatas compared to their acetone and hexane fractions. The amount of beta-carotene in hexane: acetone (50:50%) portions of TE of D. carota, I. batatas and commercial formulation A was estimated to be 10.32, 3.73, and 6.73 percent w w(-1), respectively. However, the amount of beta-carotene in hexane: acetone (50:50%) portions of UBE of D. carota, I. batatas and commercial formulation A was estimated to be 11.03, 4.43, and 6.89 percent w w(-1), respectively. The greenness scale for the proposed HPTLC strategy was calculated as 0.81 using the "analytical GREEnness (AGREE) " method, indicating that the proposed HPTLC methodology has good greenness. The UBE approach for extracting beta-carotene outperformed the TE procedure. These results indicated that the greener reversed-phase HPTLC approach can be utilized for the determination of beta-carotene in different vegetable crops, plant-based phytopharmaceuticals, and commercial products. In addition, this approach is also safe and sustainable due to the utilization of a greener mobile phase compared to the toxic mobile phases utilized in literature analytical approaches of beta-carotene estimation.