Standardization Of Herbal Drug Using Chromatographic Techniques

Standardization of herbal drugs is essential to ensure their quality, safety, efficacy, and reproducibility. Herbal medicines often exhibit significant variations in chemical composition due to differences in plant sources, environmental factors, harvesting times, and processing methods. Chromatographic techniques such as High-Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC), High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), and Gas Chromatography (GC) play a pivotal role in the standardization process by enabling the qualitative and quantitative analysis of bioactive constituents. These methods allow the identification of marker compounds, fingerprint profiling, and detection of adulterants, thereby ensuring batch-to-batch consistency. This paper reviews the application of various chromatographic techniques in the standardization of herbal drugs and highlights their importance in promoting the acceptance of herbal medicines in modern healthcare systems.