Determination of Total Glycyrrhetic Acid in Glycyrrhizae Radix by Second Derivative UV Spectrometry

Second derivative (D2) spectrometry using ion-pair extraction technique was development for the determination of total glycyrrhetic acid (GA) in Glycyrrhizae Radix, Glycyr-rhizin (G) obtained from Glycyrrhizae Radix was hydrolyzed into GA in 2 N-HCI and methanol (1:1) and extracted from aqueous phase in the form of an ion-pair complex with tetrapentylammonium bromide (TPA) as a counter ion. Maximum D2 amplitude (Z value) was obtained when 1000-fold or greater molar ratio of TPA was used at pH 11. Reaction an effective extraction solvent of the ion-pair complex. The linearity of standard curve of ion-pair GA was obtained in the range of 4.120 $\mu$g/ml as GA. Assayed contents of GA in dry powder by D2 UV spectrometry and HPLC method were 5.31 $\pm$ 0.04% and 5.20 $\pm$ 0.008%, respectively.