HPLC Determination of Piperine in ‘Trikatu Churna’ a Potent Ayurvedic Formulation for Routine Quality Control

Quantification of active principles through modern analytical tools is essential for establishing the authenticity, creditability, prescription and usage of Ayurvedic medicines/herbal formulations. ‘Trikatu churna’ is one of the oldest and popular Ayurvedic preparations, is official in Ayurvedic formulary of India used widely for disorder of respiratory tract and digestive system. It comprised of the fruits Piper longum (Pippali), Piper nigrum (Marica) and rhizomes of Zingiber officianalis (Saunth). The present study is an attempt to develop the fingerprint method for Trikatu Churna by simple high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) determination using Piperine as a standard, which is as an important and major content in formulation. RP- HPLC methods for determination of Piperine from the fruits of Pippali, Marica and Trikatu Churna have been developed. A C 18 LUNA (5 micron 25 cm×4.6 mm) column from Phenomenex in binary gradient mode with mobile phase methanol at flow rate is 1.0ml/min, and effluent was monitored at 342 nm. Validation of the method was done with a view to demonstrate its selectivity, linearity, precision and accuracy. The concentration of Piperine present in raw material was found to be 4.1%± 0.42w/w in marica, and 2.05% ± 0.39w/w in pippali respectively and in three identical laboratory batch of Trikatu Churna name TK-I, TK-II, TK-III, was 2.02%±0.61, 2.23%±0.49, 2.21%±0.53w/w respectively with mean value 2.15%±0.54w/w. The Piperine content of all the three batches is found to be in close proximities with each other. Obtained results were compared with marketed formulations.