Adaptation of a Spectrophotometric Method for the Quantification of Total Terpenoids in Plant Extracts

The objective of this work was to adapt a protocol for analysis by visible spectrophotometry to quantify the total terpenoids present in plant extracts, which is reproducible, fast and low cost. The protocol reported by Ghorai et al. for the determination of total terpenoids, presents a tedious sample processing, uses expensive resources and is time consuming. For this reason, 4 modifications of the original protocol were made, related to conservation (I), and homogenization of plant material (II), extraction of terpenes and terpenoids (III) and obtaining the precipitate and quantification (IV). It was possible to obtain the linear equation (y = 0.0137 x + 0.0191), from the linalool standard curve, applying the new protocol, with an adequate correlation (R=0.99), in a proper ranges of linalool concentration and absorbance. In conclusion, an adapted protocol was successfully obtained that was reproducible, fast and low cost.