Quantitative estimation of Silybin in Iraqi Silybum marianum by HPLC

Milk thistle's extract by an organic solvent is known as silymarin, which is a mixture of about 75% flavolignan and trace content of flavonoid (mainly taxifolin), other ingredients involve fatty acids and polyphenolic compounds. The major flavolignans are silybin, isosilybin, silydianin, and silychristin, quantitatively silybin is considered as the major compound followed by isosilybin, and both are represent approximately 60% of silymarin. This study was designed to determine the concentration of silybin in different parts of the plant and to study the effect of extraction methods, solvents and the time of collection on silybin concentration, which have been done by HPLC instrument. The results show that the higher yield of silybin is obtained from the seed using ethanol in the soxhlet apparatus and that all other parts of the plant which are produced in huge amount by the plant also contain a good concentration of silybin when compared with seeds, So they can be used as an alternative source for silybin production.