Rapid reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography for vitexin analysis and fingerprint of Passiflora foetida

Reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) was developed for quantitation of vitexin and for examining the fingerprint of Passiflora foetida leaf extract. The simple isocratic condition consisting of isopropanol : tetrahydrofuran : water (5 : 15 : 80, v/v/v) and 0.3% formic acid with a flow rate of 1.3 ml/min was optimized. Under the optimum condition, ten major peaks, including a separated peak of vitexin could be resolved within 18 min. Linearity for vitexin was in the range of 25-500 μg/ml, with a correlation coefficient of 0.99. The vitexin contents in P. foetida leaf extract collected from ten different locations varied from 0.04 to 0.13% w/w (%RSDs = 1.1-4.0%). Although the amount of the marker flavonoid (vitexin) was different, HPLC fingerprints of all samples were well conserved. The pattern of the chromatograms and the number of the peaks separated were similar. The data could be valuable for taxonomy, breeding and authenticity testing of products containing P. foetida.