Improvised TLC and conceptualization of coordinate position: A notion for qualitative profiling of complex herbal formulations

Abstract Since the last few decades, the TLC has been an essential tool in the standardization and quality control of herbal medicines. Often, the traditional Thin Layer Chromatographic (t-TLC) profiling is inadequate in separating and identifying the huge numbers of phytochemicals present therein. A simple t-TLC is unable to accommodate or separate such large numbers of spots or bands on a plate. The present investigation has tried to adopt multidimensional and multiple development methods in combination to separate 21 phytochemicals and to generate a decisive chromatographic fingerprint of the sample. The most exciting point is that the qualitative profile generated here is highly reproducible for 19 phytocompounds. The limitations of traditional TLC in separating and identifying were overcome by the present investigation. The output of the present study may be an example of creating herboprint, which is generic and conclusive in the qualitative identification of complex herbal formulations. The most significant output of this work is that the presence or absence of any herb in a polyherbal formulation can easily be detected. It generates a unique herboprint, which can be referred as an authentic chromatographic fingerprint of the complex formulation. The concept adopted here is not new in the domain of TLC, but here maximized improvisation has been imposed in the field of herbs and herbal formulations. Significantly, a concept of coordinate position(s) which has been introduced is more rational than R f value(s) for qualitative profiling in multidimensional development.