Abstract
The alternative system of medicines like Unani and Ayurveda is preferred worldwide nowadays due to its therapeutic efficacy, lower side effects, holistic approach, psychological dimensions, and qualitative action of weather and seasonal requirement. A simple procedure is described for the simultaneous extraction and estimation of piperlongumine and piperine in a well-known Unani polyherbal formulation using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The chromatography was carried out on reversed-phase C18 (250 x 4.6 mm) column with a mobile phase containing acetonitrile-water (50: 50 v/v). Detection was accomplished with ultraviolet (UV) detection at lambda = 325 nm. The flow rate was kept as 1.0 mL(-1). The proposed method was validated according to International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines for accuracy (94.4-105.0%), precision (0.37-2.17% RSD), and robustness (0.142.11% RSD). The limit of detection (LOD) values were found as 30 and 10 ng mL(-1), while limit of quantification (LOQ) was 100 and 30 ng mL(-1) for piperlongumine and piperine, respectively, which proved the sensitivity of the method satisfactory enough for accurate analysis of the both piperlongumine and piperine.