Abstract
Nux Vomica contains strychnine and brucine which showed a strong pharmacological activity. Therefore, an improved method of analyzing these compounds is of value. For determination of these compounds in Nux Vomica, titrimetry is employed on JPX. Then strychnine and brucine in Nux Vomica and commercial pharmaceutical preparations including Nux Vomica extracts were identified by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Samples were extracted with CHCl3-MeOH (2 : 1). The extracts were passed through Sep Pak C18 cartridge and applied to TLC and HPLC. HPLCs of strychnine and brucine were carried out on Shodex ODS column and CH3CN-H2O (25 : 75) to which 1-heptanesulfonic acid was added as a counter ion for the solvent system. Recoveries from model preparations were more than 98%. This method was considered to be useful for the determination of strychnine and brucine in commercial preparations including Nux Vomica extracts.
