Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 

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HPLC ANALYSIS OF CAROTENOIDS FROM INULA HELENIUM L. FLOWERS AND LEAVES

MONICA NAN1*, ADELA PINTEA2, ANDREA BUNEA2, SIGRID EŞIANU1, MIRCEA TĂMAŞ3

1Department of Pharmacognosy & Phytotherapy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Târgu Mureş, Gheorghe Marinescu 38, 540139, Târgu-Mureş, Romania
2Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Mănăştur 3 – 5, 400372, Cluj-Napoca
3Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Haţieganu”, Victor Babeş 8, 400012, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

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Inula helenium L. (elecampane), Asteraceae, is a perrenial herb mostly known for the high content of volatile oil rich in sesquiterpene lactones. The aim of our study was to determine the profile and the carotenoids composition of the aerial part (inflorescences and leaves). The separation and quantification of carotenoids was performed by highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC), on a reversed-phase C18 column and photodiode array detector. The carotenoid content of Inula helenium L. was determined in leaves, inflorescences, tubular flowers and ligulate flowers extracts, after solvent extraction and saponification. The carotenoid content varies from 4.87 mg % in leaves to 47.7 mg % in ligulate flowers. In ligulate flowers the major compound was lutein-5,6-epoxide, representing 73.8% of the total carotenoids. Tubular flowers contain higher amounts of antheraxanthin (36.9%) and lutein (28.4%), while in leaves β-carotene and lutein together represent more than 72% of the total carotenoids. All the aerial parts of the plant contain low amounts of neoxanthin and violaxanthin.