ABSTRACT
Diosmin and hesperidin are natural flavonoid glycosides found in various plant materials, mainly in citrus fruits in different concentrations. Diosmin for pharmaceutical use is obtained mainly semi-synthetically from hesperidin. Hesperidin often accompanies diosmin as a natural impurity in different pharmaceutical formulations; therefore, a simple, fast and precise method for the simultaneous assay of diosmin and hesperidin in pharmaceutical formulations has been developed to control their contents. Chromatographic resolution was performed using a column with C-18 packing and the following mobile phase: methanol/water [45: 55, v/v] with 0.025% added didecyldimethylammonium lactate, which significantly affects retention, shortening analysis time and having a positive impact on the symmetry of resulting chromatographic peaks. The method shows linearity between 2.5 and 100 microg/mL, high repeatability [0.39 and 0.42% for diosmin and hesperidin, respectively] and accuracy of 96 to 102% for both the assayed compounds. Intraday and interday precision of the new method were less than RSD% 1, 2. The limit of detection of the assayed compounds is 2.5 and 1.2 microg/mL for diosmin and hesperidin, respectively. The method was tested on several pharmaceutical products available in Poland