Novel Validated HPLC Method Development for Simultaneous Analysis of Curcumin and β-Boswellic Acid

A simple, rapid and specific High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method has been developed for simultaneous analysis of Curcumin and β-Boswellic acid in a prepared polyherbal gel formulation containing turmeric and boswellia extracts. High performance liquid chromatography analysis was performed on a C18 column using 90:10 (v/v) mixture of acetonitrile and water as isocratic mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. Ultra violet detection was set at 425 nm for Curcumin and 242 for β-Boswellic acid. The method was validated for accuracy, precision, linearity, specificity and sensitivity in accordance with International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. Validation data reveals that the method is specific, accurate, precise, reliable and reproducible. Good linear correlation coefficients (r2>0.9993) were obtained for calibration plots in the range tested. Limit of detection for Curcumin was 0.16 µg/ml and limit of quantification was 0.50 µg/ml while for β-Boswellic acid limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found to be 3.3 and 9.9 µg/ml respectively. Recovery was found to be between 98.75 to 99.01 % for Curcumin and from 98.72 to 100.01 % for β-Boswellic acid. The established HPLC method is appropriate and the two selected markers are well resolved, enabling efficient quantitative analysis of Curcumin and β-Boswellic acid. The method was successfully used for quantitative analysis of these two marker constituents in an in-house prepared polyherbal gel formulation. Key word: HPLC, Simultaneous analysis, Polyherbal gel formulation, Curcumin, β-Boswellic acid