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Abstract
A method using high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) as a powerful separation technique has been developed for the simultaneous determination of the four flavonols rutin, quercetin, kaempferol and isorhamnetin in food supplements and pharmaceutical formulations. The chromatographic separation was achieved in 36 min using a Symmetry C18 column (250 × 3 mm; 5 µm) as the stationary phase and a mixture of methanol, acetonitrile, and pH 2.5 aqueous acetic acid as the mobile phase in gradient elution mode. The analytical wavelengths were 256 nm for rutin, quercetin and isorhamnetin, and 368 nm for kaempferol. An ultrasound-assisted extraction protocol was performed using methanol as solvent. The detection and quantification limits were lower than 0.03 µg mL−1 and 0.08 µg mL−1, respectively. The inter-day and intra-day precisions were less than 4.8 and 5.1%, respectively, and the average recoveries were in the range from 96 to 107%. The method was applied for the determination of the studied flavonols in food supplements and pharmaceutical preparations. The satisfactory recovery values demonstrate the potential of the developed method for the determination of the analytes in these samples. In addition, the method is suitable for routine quality control due its ease of operation.