| Summary: | Recently, we reported the isolation of a novel flavonoid named uncariechin along with epicatechin and epiafzelechin from the leaf extract of Uncaria longiflora variety pteropoda (Miq.) Ridsd. of the family Rubiaceae. Continuing our investigation on the Uncaria genus, the identification and quantification of its phytoconstituents was carried out. The species of particular interest is the Malaysian Uncaria gambir. This species is distributed mainly in Malaysia and Indonesia and has been cultivated for the flavonoid catechin in Indonesia. Hence, the objective of this study is to determine the quantity of catechin in hexane (Hx), dichloromethane (DCM) and methanol (MeOH) extracts in both stem and leaf parts of the plant via HPLC-DAD. Our findings indicate that catechin is present in higher amounts in the MeOH extract [8.64 % (leaves); 5.12 % (stems)] compared to the DCM extract [0.77 % (leaves); 0.92 % (stems)] with no catechin found in the hexane extract. This is the first report of the quantification of catechin from Malaysian U. gambir using HPLC-DAD. The method can be used for the quantification of flavonoids from other Uncaria and related genus and is useful for targeted isolation of interest flavonoids. © 2016, Malaysian Society of Analytical Sciences. All rights reserved.
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