PHELA is a herbal mixture of four African traditional medicinal plants that has been used for decades in
wasting conditions and is now being developed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) as an immune booster for
patients with compromised immune system. A chromatographic fingerprint of PHELA was needed for quality control
purposes. Here, a comprehensive method for fingerprinting of PHELA using different chromatographic techniques is
described. It involved extraction of the PHELA by either acidic or a simple ‘salting-out’ method, followed by Thin
Layer Chromatography (TLC) analysis and/or preparative Column Chromatography (CC). The products were
thereafter analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography with UV-detector (HPLC-UV), HPLC with
fluorescence-detector (HPLC-FL) and Gas-Chromatography with a Mass Selective Detector spectrometer (GCMSD).
The fingerprints were successfully used to differentiate PHELA from another common herbal product made
from
Hypericum perforatum
(St. John’s Wort), thereby illustrating its high potential for use in fingerprinting of PHELA
and in differentiating it from other herbal medicines. By validating the different chromatographic techniques on the
standardized extraction methods, this approach will enable wide application in quality control of PHELA using
acceptable procedures, thereby promoting effective monitoring of the finished product in all countries where it will be
used.
