Solvent Polarity Based Microwave Assisted Extraction of Ferulic Acid from Whole Plant of Cynodon dactylon (L.) and it’s Quantitative Determination by Developed and Validated HPTLC Method

Simple, precise, economical and eco-friendly MAE-HPTLC method was developed for the extraction and quantitation of ferulic acid in the whole plant of Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. Optimization of various parameters which influence the microwave assisted extraction process, like nature of solvent, volume of solvent, microwave energy input and microwave irradiation time were studied. Effect of solvent polarity on MAE process was observed by using range of solvents from non-polar nature to polar nature. Solvent volume (20 mL), extraction time (120 s) and microwave irradiation power (900 W) were found to be most suitable for extraction of ferulic acid. The developed HPTLC method was validated in terms of linearity, precision, limit of detection, limit of quantitation and accuracy. The maximum yield of extract (1.021%, w/w) from raw plant powder was obtained when extracted with ethanol, while lowest yield of extract (0.421%, w/w) was found with n-hexane. Ethanol extract showed maximum yield of ferulic acid (261.49 μg per 100 gm of dry weight of whole plant), whereas ferulic acid was not detected in n-hexane and dichloromethane extracts.