Simultaneous determination of tannins and triterpene saponins from the fruits of various species of Terminalia using UPLC-UV-MS

Terminalia species are a rich source of tannins. Many preparations of these species are used in traditional medicine and have many different ethno-botanical applications. A simple UPLC method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of such hydrolysable tannins and triterpene saponins from the fruit rinds of Terminalia species. A separation by LC was achieved using a reversed phase column, a water/acetonitrile mobile phase, both containing formic acid using a gradient system and a temperature of 40°C. Eight hydrolysable tannins (gallic acid, gallic acid methyl ester, corilagin, chebulagic acid, 1,2,3,6-tetra-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose, ellagic acid, chebulinic acid, 1,2,3,4,6-penta-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose) and six triterpene saponins (arjunglucoside-I, arjunglucoside-III, chebuloside II, bellericoside, arjunetin and arjunglucoside-II) could be separated within 20 minutes. The wavelength used for detection with the diode array detector was 254 and 275nm for tannins and 205nm for triterpene saponins. The method was validated for linearity, repeatability, limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ). The developed method is economical, fast and especially suitable for quality control (QC) analysis of tannins and triterpene saponins from various commercial products.