Gas chromatographic method for routine determination of oleanolic and ursolic acids in medicinal plants

A rapid and simple gas chromatographic method has been established for routine analysis of free oleanolic and ursolic acids in dried samples of medicinal herbs. Soxhlet extraction of triterpenes was followed by solid-phase extraction (SPE). Amounts of the compounds were measured by gas chromatography after silylation of the purified samples. Experiments were performed to establish the optimum conditions (e.g. solvent, and mode and duration of extraction) for calibration curve linearity, sensitivity, reproducibility, and recovery. The conditions used for derivatization and gas chromatographic analysis resulted in an improvement on literature data. The method devised enables accurate routine measurement of many samples in quite a short time (e.g. for chemotaxonomical screening, or quality control of herbal drugs). The practical application of the method was illustrated on five Lamiaceae species.