Estimation of Rutin and Ascorbic Acid in Some Libyan Herbal Plants by RP-HPLC
Objective: A combination of rutin and ascorbic acid were exploited in several pharmaceutical activities and so simple and high sensitive liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of the cited ingredients in methanolic extracts of different Libyan herbal plants was proposed. 
Methods: The chromatographic analysis was performed using 250 × 4.6 mm Brownlee BIO C18 column, 5 μm particle size, with UV detection at 254 nm and isocratic elution of methanol–phosphate buffer pH 3.2, which is initially in 45:55 (v/v) for 0.5 min (equilibrium state), then varied to 60:40 (v/v) isocratic for 8 min and then back to 45:55 for 2 min, at a flow rate 1 ml/min and at ambient temperature. 
Results: The percentages of rutin and ascorbic acid found were 0.7, 0.1 in Salvia fruticosa, 1.72, 2.31 in Thymus vulgaris, 0.44, 0.35 in Rosemary officinalis, 2.87, 3.56 in Matricaria chamomilla L., 2.10, 0.62 in Artemisia absinthium respectively. 
Conclusion: The proposed method was suitable for the identification and quantification of the binary combination of rutin and ascorbic acid in Libyan herbal plants.