HPLC-profiles of tocopherols, sugars and organic acids in three medicinal plants consumed as infusions

Pterospartum tridentatum (L.) Willk., Gomphrena globosa L. and Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf. are medicinal plants that require a more detailed chemical characterization, given the importance of their consumption as infusions. Therefore, the individual profiles in tocopherols, free sugars and organic acids were obtained by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to different detectors (fluorescence, refraction index and photodiode array, respectively). C. citratus revealed the highest content of α-, and total tocopherols, glucose, sucrose, succinic and ascorbic acids. P. tridentatum presented the highest fructose and total sugars content. Otherwise, G. globosa showed the highest organic acids concentration. As far as we know, this is the first study reporting the mentioned chemical compounds in G. globosa and C. citratus.The authors aregrateful to Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support to the research center CIMO (strategic project PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011) and Lillian Barros researcher contract under “Programa Compromisso com Ciência, 2008.