Determination of Total Apigenin in Herbs by Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography with UV Detection

Apigenin is a naturally occurring plant flavone that exhibits strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor properties. A MEKC-UV based method was developed for the determination of total apigenin in selected herbs. Application of pseudostationary phase in the form of SDS micelles resulted in great repeatability of retention times and peak areas. A buffer solution consisting of 30 mmol/L sodium borate (pH 10.2), 10% acetonitrile, and 10 mmol/L sodium dodecyl sulfate was found to be the most suitable BGE for the separation. The method was validated and calibrated for total apigenin in the range of 1.0-100 μmol/L (R (2) = 0.9994). The limits of detection and quantification were 0.48 μmol/L and 0.92 μmol/L, respectively. This precise and robust method was successfully applied to the analysis of plant samples for total apigenin content.