104 Summary Dendrophthoe falcata (Linn. f.) Etting. is a stem parasite commonly known as ‘Vanda’ in the Ayurvedic system of medicine. A TLC method has been established for simultaneous identification and quantification of phenolic compounds in different parts of this plant. Chromatography was performed on silica gel with toluene– ethyl acetate–formic acid 6:4:1 (v/v) as mobile phase, and character- istic bands of (+)-catechin, ellagic acid, quercetin, and ferulic acid were observed at R F 0.35, 0.41, 0.63, and 0.66, respectively. The method was validated for precision, repeatability, and accuracy. The method enables reliable quantification with good resolution and separation from other constituents of the plant extract. The accura- cy of the method was checked by measuring recovery of all four phe- nolic compounds at three different concentrations and by matching the spectra of reference markers with those of the corresponding bands in the extract at three different positions, i.e. the start, apex, and end positions of the band. The presence and quantity of these phenolic compounds varies from part to part of this parasitic plant. For example, quercetin was present only in the leaves, ferulic acid in the stem, and ellagic acid and (+)-catechin in stem and root. More (+)-catechin and ellagic acid were found in the stem than in the root. 1 Introduction Dendrophthoe falcata (Linn. f.) Etting. (family Loranthaceae) is a parasitic plant with a large bushy stem and smooth, gray bark which grows on a great variety of forest and fruit trees. The leaves are usually opposite, thick, variable in shape from ovate to linear-oblong, mid-rib prominent, secondary nerves obscure; the flowers are orange-red or scarlet in short spreading, stout, axillary, racemes. The plant is reported to be cooling, bitter, astringent, aphrodisiac, narcotic, diuretic, and is useful for treat- ment of pulmonary tuberculosis, asthma, menstrual disorder, swelling, wounds, ulcers, strangury, and renal and vesicle cal- culi [1–3]. The tender shoots contain 10% tannins and are used as tan-stuffs for rendering leather soft [2, 4]. Pharmacological evaluation of extracts of this plant has revealed various activity, viz. tumor-reducing [5], immunomodulatory [6], diuretic [7], antiurolithiatic [7, 8], antiviral, and hypotensive [9]. This para- sitic plant is rich in phenolic and terpenoid compounds. Quercetin, quercitrin, gallic acid, ellagic acid, chebulic acid, myricitin, kaempferol, β-amyrin acetate, β-sitosterol, stigma- sterol, and oleanolic acid methyl ester acetate have been isola- ted from the stem of the plant [10–12], strospeside, neritaloside, and odoroside from the leaves [13], and (+)-catechin and leuco- cyanidine from the bark [11]. In the past two decades TLC and HPTLC have become routine analytical techniques because of their advantages which include high sample throughput at low operating cost, easy sample preparation, short analysis time, and the possibility of simulta- neous analysis of several samples. Several reports on identifica- tion and estimation of phenolic components by use of these tech- niques are available in the literature [14–21]. In the work dis- cussed in this communication TLC was used in an attempt to identify and quantify the phenolic compounds in different parts of D. falcata growing on Callistemon lanceolatus DC. 2 Experimental 2.1 Reagents and Materials Leaves, stem, and root of D. falcata were collected during the months of March to April from the Institute’s garden and the identity of the plant samples was confirmed by matching with the samples in the herbarium of the institute. The dried samples were deposited in the crude drug museum of the Pharmacognosy and Ethnopharmacology Division. All the three parts were dried at 40°C in a hot-air oven, then stored at 25°C in an air-tight con- tainer and powdered to 44-mesh when required. Ellagic acid, (+)-catechin, and quercetin standards were pro- cured from Sigma–Aldrich and ferulic acid from Natural Reme- S. Khatoon, H. Singh, and K. Singh, Pharmacognosy and Ethnopharmacology Division, and A.K. Goel, Botanical Gardens, National Botanical Research Insti- tute, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Rana Pratp Marg, Lucknow- 226001, India. E-mail: sayyadak@yahoo.com TLC Evaluation and Quantification of Phenolic Compounds in Different Parts of Dendrophthoe falcata (Linn. f.) Etting Sayyada Khatoon*, Harsh Singh, Kripal Singh, and Anil Kumar Goel Key Words Dendrophthoe falcata Loranthaceae Phenolic compounds TLC Vand Original Research Papers Journal of Planar Chromatography 23 (2010) 2, 104–107 DOI: 10.1556/JPC.23.2010.2.2 0933-4173/$ 20.00 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest