Identification and determination of flavonoids, carotenoids and chlorophyll concentration in <i>Cynodon dactylon</i> (L.) by HPLC analysis

<div><p><i>Cynodon dactylon</i> (L.) is a potent medicinal plant in the traditional and current Indian medicinal systems. The objective of this research was to find out the levels of flavonoids, carotenoids and chlorophyll <i>b</i> in <i>C. dactylon</i> leaves by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) equipped with a diode array detector. HPLC analysis revealed that total carotenoid and total flavonoid concentration were 62 mg/100 g and 249.1 μg/g, respectively. The mean chlorophyll <i>b</i> was 85.1 mg/100 g in <i>C. dactylon</i>. Among the flavonoids, quercetin (164.7 μg/g) was the major flavonoid followed by kaempferol (48.2 μg/g), rutin (18.4 μg/g), catechin (12.1 μg/g) and myricetin (5.7 μg/g). Of the carotenoids, β-carotene (35.2 mg/100 g) was predominant followed by lutein (17.0 mg/100 g), violaxanthin (5.8 mg/100 g) and zeaxanthin (4.2 mg/100 g). Chlorophyll <i>b</i> concentration was 85.1 mg/100 g in <i>C. dactylon</i>. The results of this investigation should be useful information for further pharmacological studies.</p></div