Determination of Mahanimbine from Murraya koenigii, Collected from Different Geographical Regions of India, by TLC-Densitometry

Murraya koenigii is an important medicinal plant for its diverse pharmacological activities. It has been utilized in various indigenous systems of medicine for preparing different herbal formulations. M. koenigii is a rich source of bioactive carbazole alkaloids, among which mahanimbine, koenimbine, mahanine, and girinimbine are the major carbazole alkaloids isolated from the leaves of this plant. Mahanimbine has been utilized to treat cancer and diabetes, playing an important role in the pharmacological effects of this plant. Standardization is an essential process in the pharmaceutical industry to maintain the purity, quality, efficacy, and, safety of herbal raw materials. Different analytical techniques, including HPTLC, HPLC, GC-MS, and LC-MS have been used for this purpose. In the present study, a simple, specific, and rapid semi-automated TLC method was developed to determine the mahanimbine content in leaf samples collected from three geographical regions of India. This study revealed that the ethyl acetate extract prepared from leaf samples collected from Andhra Pradesh contains the highest amount of mahanimbine (507.2 µg), which indicates that this sample can be utilized for further research or in the preparation of herbal formulations.