Extraction and Determination of Chemical Ingredients from Stems of Silybum Marianum

High performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) and Inductively coupled plasma (ICP-OES) have been used to analyze the extracts of Silybum marianum (milk thistle) stems for carbohydrates, flavonoid, phenolic acids, Fatty acids, amino acids, flavonolignans and metal ions content. Proximate compositions of milk thistle showed high carbohydrate content especially fructose, high ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acid content, a high ratio of essential amino acids especially histidine, and highest ratio of the biologically active flavolignin silybin A. The active antioxidant ingredient coumaric acid showed a highest concentration compared to other phenolic acids and analysis of metal ions showed that Si and Al was the major elements present in the stems of the herb. Keywords: Silybum Marianum, HPLC, ICP-OES, Carbohydrate, Flavonoid, Phenolic Aci