Isolation, characterization and quantification of diosgenin from<i>Costus igneus</i>

Abstract

In the present study, an attempt has been made to isolate, characterize, and to quantify diosgenin from sapogenin extract of Costus igneus rhizome. Crude sapogenin extract of C. igneus rhizome was chromatographed on silica gel column, eluting with solvent mixtures of increasing polarity composed of n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate (ethyl acetate up to 80%), and the fractions were collected. The structure of the isolated compound was established on the basis of elemental analysis and spectroscopic evidences (infrared [IR], proton nuclear magnetic resonance [1H NMR], carbon nuclear magnetic resonance [13C NMR], mass spectrometry [MS]). Diosgenin was quantified by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) (n-hexane-ethyl acetate 7:3 [v/v] as mobile phase) at RF 0.27 which gave single peak at 254 nm (after derivatization — 433 nm). The amount of diosgenin was estimated by comparing the peak area of standard to the peak area of diosgenin present in the C. igneus rhizome extract (sapogenin extract). The diosgenin present in the sapogenin extract was estimated to be 0.5%.