Myrica esculenta (Family: Myricaceae) commonly known as Kaiphala or Katphala is a widely used medicinal plant in Ayurveda. In spite of its numerous medicinal attributes, no published work is available till date on pharmacognostical characterization and HPTLC analysis of its leaves. To investigate the pharmacognostical, physicochemical, and HPTLC profiles of M. esculenta leaves. The measures taken for pharmacognostical characterization were organoleptic study, macroscopy, microscopy, powder microscopy, leaf constant, fluorescence analysis, preliminary phytochemical screening and HPTLC spectra profile. Organoleptic and macroscopic studies found that leaves are lancoelate, thin, spirally arranged, dark green in color, with an astringent taste and acute apex. In transverse section, cuticularised epidermis having polygonal cells were found. Mesophyll cells were differentiated into single layered palisade cells on each surface and 2-3 layered spongy parenchyma, unicellular and uniseriate hollow trichomes, anomocytic stomata and bowl shaped vascular bundle in mid rib portion containing xylem and phloem tissues. Alkaloids, carbohydrates, flavonoids, glycosides, phenolic compounds and tannins were found present. Analysis on the leaf constants, powder microscopy, fluorescence characteristics and physical parameters resulted a valuable data to establish standards for the plant. HPTLC profile provides number of constituents present in the extracts with their respective Retention Factor (Rf). Present report on pharmacognostical characterization and HPTLC analysis of M. esculenta leaves provides a vital diagnostic tool for identification, authentication and development of quality parameters of the species. Data obtained by present study may be considered as standard for future studies.

Mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful analytical tool with many applications in pharmaceutical and biomedical field. The increase in sensitivity and resolution of the instrument has opened new dimensions in analysis of pharmaceuticals and complex metabolites of biological systems. Compared with other techniques, mass spectroscopy is only the technique for molecular weight determination, through which we can predict the molecular formula. It is based on the conversion of the sample into ionized state, with or without fragmentation which are then identified by their mass-to-charge ratios (m/e). Mass spectroscopy provides rich elemental information, which is an important asset to interpret complex mixture components. Thus, it is an important tool for structure elucidation of unknown compounds. Mass spectroscopy also helps in quantitative elemental analysis, that is, the intensity of a mass spectra signal is directly proportional to the percentage of corresponding element. It is also a noninvasive tool that permits in vivo studies in humans. Recent research has looked into the possible applications of mass spectrometers in biomedical field. It is also used as a sensitive detector for chromatographic techniques like LC–MS, GC–MS and LC/MS/MS. These recent hyphenated technological developments of the technique have significantly improved its applicability in pharmaceutical and biomedical analyses.

A novel, sensitive, and specific gradient RP-HPLC method with UV detection is proposed for the simultaneous quantification of multicomponent liquid dosage form. The separation of the three drugs was achieved using a C18 column (250 mm×4.0 mm, 5 μ) as a stationary phase. No preliminary extraction procedure is required for liquid formulations and a very simple extraction procedure is required for tablets and creams. A mixture of two mobile phases was used with gradient time programing at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. Detection was performed by using PDA detector at 270 nm. Phenylephrine HCl (RT=7.705 min), triprolidine HCl (RT=26.510 min) and dextromethorphan HBr (RT=29.166 min) were separated with good resolution in a single chromatographic run of 50 min. Each drug obeys Beer-Lambert's law in the linearity range of 0.080–0.12 mg/ml for dextromethorphan HBr with a correlation coefficient of 0.998, 0.040–0.060 mg/ml for phenylephrine HCl with a correlation coefficient of 0.996, and 0.010–0.015 mg/ml for triprolidine HCl with a correlation coefficient of 0.998. The recoveries for dextromethorphan HBr and phenylephrine HCl were found to be 99.35% and 99.53%, respectively and for triprolidine HCl was 98.88%. Validation results show satisfactory linearity, precision, accuracy and specificity.