Determination of kinetin in callus of Panax ginseng by liquid chromatography

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for the determination of kinetin levels in Panax ginseng dried callus, fresh callus and culture media. Ground dried callus was suspended in borate buffer and extracted with ethyl acetate. The extract was eluted through a cation-exchange column (Amberlite CG-50), then re-extracted with ethyl acetate. This extract was subjected to HPLC. Kinetin levels were determined by gradient elution on an Inertsil ODS-2 column and UV detection at 280 nm. The ion-exchange column chromatographic purification step could be eliminated with kinetin extracts from fresh callus and culture media. The recovery of kinetin from dried callus spiked at 5 μg g−1 was 72.0% and those from fresh callus and media spiked at 1.0 and 0.5 μg g−1 were 72.8 and 84.2%, respectively. Kinetin was not detected in dried callus of P. ginseng.