African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (6), pp. 1271-1273, 3 July 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Short Communication

Determination of ferulic acid and related compounds by thin layer chromatography

Leonard Vuyani Mabinya¹*, Tungamirai Mafunga¹ and John Morgan Brand²

¹Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Fort Hare, Alice 5700, South Africa.

²Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa.

*Corresponding authors E-mail: Lmabinya@ufh.ac.za

Accepted 18 May, 2006

The analysis of certain phenolic compounds from plants, and their chemical transformation with microorganisms or isolated enzymes, has application in the food and pharmaceutical industry. The rapid quantitative estimation of ferulic acid by thin layer chromatography is described by measurement of the area of the obtained spots. Furthermore, the qualitative analysis of a number of related phenolics, some of which are transformation products of ferulic acid, is achieved on thin layer chromatographic plates by the use of different spray reagents.

Key words: Phenolic compounds, quantitative, qualitative, ferulic acid, thin layer chromatography.